Starr, the Star Dragon Slayer
by Digidestined Dude 15
Summary: There is a new member of Fairy Tail, and not only that but he's a Dragon Slayer as well! Join the adventures of Starr Celestia as he, Nastu, Gray, Happy, Erza and Lucy as they explore their magical abilities. Post Tower of Heaven. Gray X Starr, Lisanna X Natsu (NaLi), Jellal x Erza (Jerza), Lucy x Loke (LoLu). Possible other couples.
1. Chapter 1

**This story takes place before the after all of the Phantom Lord and Tower of Heaven stuff went down and everything is back to normal with everyone in Fairy Tail. Alright, well I hope you enjoy my first Fairy Tail story.**

**-x~X~x-**

Today was another fine day within the Fairy Tail guild. Mirajane was busy delivering drinks to the other members, as well as Master Makarov, Elfman was showing everyone how 'Manly' he was, and Natsu and Gray were arguing over the latter's excessive stripping habit. All in all, it was a regular day for Fairy Tail.

"WOULD YOU PUT SOME DAMN CLOTHES ON, FREEZER FREAK!" Natsu screamed, his head banged fiercely against that of Gray's, whom was clad in only is usual black boxer shorts.

"WHY DON'T YOU MAKE ME, FLAME BRAIN!" Gray screamed back, glaring into the eyes of his opposite in nearly every way, with disgust dripping from his tone.

Erza stepped in between the two and pushed them apart, forcefully. "What have I told you two about fighting? Now cut it out, or I'll make your lives a living hell!" Erza yelled, giving them both deadly glares that would make even Medusa turn to stone.

Gray and Natsu froze up immediately and went into their 'happy-buddy-position' with their arms draped over each other's shoulders and faking a smile. "Aye, sir!" they both said, using Happy's accent. Erza smirked and returned to her seat.

Not long after, Lucy appeared before them with a shocked expression on her face. "Guys! You'll never believe what I just heard!"

"Was it something that can make Natsu less idiotic?"

"Was it something to make Gray strip less?"

Natsu and Gray asked their questions more to each other than to Lucy. Erza sent the boys another glare, making them shut up once more, and then looked curiously at Lucy. "What is it, Lucy?" she asked.

"I heard from Alzack and Bisca that there's going to be another wizard joining Fairy Tail Today!" Lucy exclaimed, joy exploding in her voice.

Natsu and Gray stopped glaring at each other and looked curiously at Lucy. "Are you serious, Lucy?" Gray asked.

Lucy nodded. "Yep! They said that they met the guy while they were on their last mission, and he asked if they were part of a wizard guild. They both told the boy that they were members of Fairy Tail and the boy asked if he could join, and of course they said yes!"

"Wait, Bisca and Alzack are here now, so why isn't the newbie here with them?" Natsu asked, curiously. Erza hit him over the head for his use of the word 'Newbie' to describe this new wizard.

"Bisca explained that the boy had a few things to do before he left, so she gave him directions to the guild before they left. They told me that the boy should be arriving today, based on how far away they were during their job" Lucy explained fully.

Erza smiled proudly. She placed one hand on her hip. "Well, I for one can't wait to meet this new recruit. Did Alzack and Bisca say what this boy's name was? or what kind of wizard this boy was?"

Lucy thought for a moment, while humming softly. "They said that his name was… Starr, I think, but they didn't say what kind of wizard he was…"

Natsu pounded his right fist into his left hand, confidently. "Well, I'll find out when I fight him, that's for sure!"

Gray punched Natsu in the face with a frosty fist, sending him flying. "Not before me, flame brain! I call dibs on fighting hi-AHH!" before he could continue, Gray was hit over the head by Erza's fist, pounding him into the floor.

"I think as an S-Class wizard, I should have the privilege of testing the strength of a new recruit" she stated, ominously serious.

Lucy chose this moment to back away to the drink bar next to Kana, who was drinking yet another barrel of alcohol, positive that a fight was about to break out between the three wizards. She sighed and rested her head on the counter. Kana looked up from her barrel and stared at the tired Lucy with intrigue.

"What's up with you, Lucy?" she asked.

Lucy lifted her head up from the counter and rested it in her hands. "Nothing, just waiting until Natsu, Erza and Gray run out of energy so it's safe to confront them…" She glanced over at the three and flinched when she saw a flying chair heading straight for them. "Hit the deck!" she screamed.

Kana and Lucy ducked their heads downward, avoiding the chair from hitting them. They sat back up straight and sighed. "Man, things sure never get dull in Fairy Tail, do they?" Kana asked, sarcastically. Lucy nodded. "So what are they fighting about this time?"

"The three of them are arguing over which one of them is gonna fight the new guy that's coming today" Lucy said. "I sure hope the guy is strong if Natsu, Erza _and_ Gray want a piece of him…"

"Yeah, otherwise the guy's first day at Fairy Tail might also be his last" Kana said, adding in a chuckle.

Mirajane laughed as well. "Do you think the new guy will be cute at all, Lucy?" she asked.

Lucy gave her a blank look. "At this point, I honestly don't care. As long as he doesn't throw chairs around like everyone else…"

Bisca and Alzack appeared before Lucy. "Hey, Lucy, you want to come with the two of us to pick up Starr? We're meeting him at Magnolia station" Alzack offered.

"I don't think so, I'm kinda tired and… Ah!" Lucy ducked once again after seeing a barrel flying toward her. Alzack pulled out one of his guns and shot the barrel, destroying it with one shot. Bisca requiped a flare gun and shot it a short distance into the air, creating a dazzling light show and ceasing the fighting between Erza, Natsu and Gray, the latter two of which were caught in a head lock.

"Hey! You guys wanna come with us to meet Starr at the train station?" Bisca asked loudly.

Erza let go of the two boys and dropped them on the floor. "I'll go with you"

Gray and Natsu got up from the floor and stood on either side of Erza. "We'll come too!" Natsu declared. Gray nodded in agreement.

"Aye, sir!" Happy cheered.

Lucy sighed once more and stood up from her seat. "I guess I'll come too, so I can make sure you boys don't kill each other…" Lucy and the others followed Bisca and Alzack's lead and left Fairy Tail, but not before Erza force-dressed Gray, who grumbled the entire time.

It only took a few minutes for the group to arrive at Magnolia station. Everyone other than Alzack and Bisca were looking around curiously for what might seem like a Wizard boy, but of course, since they had no idea what he looks like, they were clueless.

"Come on, guys, Starr's train just came in" Bisca said, leading the group to a train that had just pulled into the station. They watched as a crowd of people flooded out of the train. As the last of the people walked out, Bisca pointed to a tall, blonde boy that was walking off behind everyone else. The boy had lightly tanned skin with a small yellow star tattoo right below his left eye, green eyes and appeared to be at most 14 years old. He was wearing a white t-shirt under a long, sky blue vest that stretched down below his waist and was held together by a golden star clip at the top, black pants and red sneakers with a black stripe down the middle.

Alzack waved over to the boy and he ran up to the group, smiling cheerfully. "Hey, Alzack, Bisca, great to see you again" the boy said in a deep, yet childish voice.

"Great to see ya too, Starr. Let us introduce you to Fairy Tail's strongest team" Alzack turned to face the group. "This is Natsu Dragneel, Erza Scarlet, Gray Fullbuster, and Lucy Heartfilia… oh and Natsu's partner, Happy" he said, gesturing to each person by name. Happy gave off a silent glare at Erza for nearly excluding him.

"Yo, Starr, fight with me!" Natsu demanded, holding up a flaming fist. The pink-haired boy was then hit over the head by Erza once again.

"At least let him officially _join_ the guild first, before you go picking a fight, Natsu!" she yelled. Natsu nodded weakly.

"Hey, um… this might be a silly question, but… have any of you seen a dragon?" Starr asked, poking his fingers together. Everyone's eyes widened.

"A dragon? Does that mean…" Lucy started.

Everyone's eyes widened with realization. "YOU'RE A DRAGON SLAYER?" They all screamed.

Starr nodded. "I'm a Star Dragon Slayer, and I've been looking for the dragon that raised me, Celestica, for a few years now… you haven't seen her, have you? She's really big and she shines really bright!"

"I'm sorry, Starr, but we haven't seen Celestica…" Lucy stated, looking saddened. The cheerful expression on his face left and was suddenly replaced by a disappointed frown.

"But, if it helps, we have a few Dragon Slayers at the guild already, so you can relate to them if you need to talk to someone" Erza explained with a smile.

Starr looked up at her, hopefully. "Really? Who are they?"

Natsu grinned and pointed to himself with his thumb. "You're looking at one. I'm Natsu Dragneel, a Fire Dragon Slayer!"

"And the other Dragon Slayer is Gajeel, the Iron Dragon Slayer, he's back at our guild" Gray added.

Lucy nodded. "Yep, our guild is full of Dragons these days…" she said, a hint of annoyance in her tone.

Starr smiled happily. "That sounds great, I can't wait to get there" the blonde look down and blushed lightly. "Thank you so much for allowing me to join Fairy Tail. Just before Celestica disappeared, she told me to join a Wizard guild, one that would treat me like family, however, the other ones I've seen before this didn't really stand out to me. But when Alzack and Bisca told me about Fairy Tail, I could tell that this was the one that I could belong in…"

Everyone gave the blonde a warm smile. Erza walked over and patted him on the shoulder… although she used a little bit more force than she should have. Everyone cringed as they watched Starr go face down into the concrete floor, creating a small crater. Erza looked down at the now twitching boy and laughed nervously. "Uh, sorry about that…"

Bisca and Alzack quickly helped Starr to his feet and draped each of his arms over their shoulders. Starr moaned, painfully, but smiled. "…if this is what wizards at Fairy Tail are like… I can't wait to join Fairy Tail now!" he said, excitedly. Everyone smiled along with him.

The group of wizards helped Starr make his way to the now re-constructed guild hall. Phantom Lord may have dealt a lot of damage to it, but with everyone's hard work the guild hall was finally repaired, and in only a short time after its destruction. Starr starred at the guild with widened eyes before he followed Natsu and the others inside. When he saw the inside, he was even more speechless.

Lucy placed a hand on his shoulder. He looked up at her, a smile still glued to his face. "I know, I had the same reaction my first day. Pretty amazing, huh?" she asked. Starr nodded.

Erza, Natsu and Gray lead Starr up to the bar, where Master Makarov was perched on the table with his legs crossed and his eyes closed. Lucy followed all of them.

"Master, I have the new recruit here to see you" Erza spoke up.

Makarov opened his eyes and looked down at the Star Dragon Slayer. "Ah, yes, I see…" he stood up from the bar and jumped down onto the floor, right in front of Starr. "Nice to meet you, you're the wizard that Alzack and Bisca were talking about, am I right? Starr Celestia?" Starr nodded, an excited expression on his face. "Before we allow you to join the guild, I want you to tell me something, Starr…" Starr gave the master a questioning look. "What does it mean to be a wizard to you? Why do you use magic?"

Starr smiled once more. "That's easy. My magic is the one connection I have to Celestica, the Dragon who raised me. She taught me how to use my magic, and she taught me one important lesson…" The blonde placed a hand over the left side of his chest. "Celestica told me that my magic is a way to connect with people, that I should only use it against those that oppose the people I care about. This is why she told me to join a guild, so that I have people to protect with my magic. Please, Master Makarov, let me join Fairy Tail!"

Makarov hummed softly for a few moments, before he jumped up onto the rafters of the second floor. He cleared his throat with a cough. "Everyone, listen up!" he shouted. Everyone in the guild stopped what they were doing and turned to face Master Makarov. "Allow me to introduce to you, our newest Fairy Tail family member…" Starr smiled expectantly at the master. "Starr Celestia!"

Everyone in the guild cheered, along with Erza, Natsu, Gray and Lucy.

To everyone's surprise, a yellow magic circle appeared on Starr's back with the pattern of a star in the center, and from the circle sprouted a pair of brilliant white wings. They were shining brightly with beautiful light. He began flying around in circles. "I'M A MEMBER OF FAIRY TAIL!" he screamed as loud as he could. Though confused slightly, everyone continued to cheer with him. Happy even began flying next to him.

"SHUT THE HELL UP!" a loud voice boomed through the hall. Everyone stopped cheering and looked in the direction it came from, and frowned. Sitting at his usual table was none other than Laxus, one of the three S-class wizards, next to Erza and Mystogan. Laxus gave off an evil laugh. "You're all getting this excited over a newbie? Pathetic!" everyone glared at him. "I'm surprised that you can even fit the guild with this many weaklings that you take up off the street!"

"Laxus, that's enough!" Makarov shouted angrily.

"No one asked you your opinion anyway, Laxus, so just go back to doing whatever it is you do, because it sure isn't work!" Mirajane yelled. "You haven't taken a job request in months, so I'd keep my mouth shut if I were you!"

The lightning wizard sent Mirajane a deathly glare, followed by a sinister smirk. "Well then, it's a good thing that you're not me, now isn't it? So, do us all a favor go back to serving drinks to these fools and stop talking like the days where you _aren't_ completely useless to anyone"

Everyone was certain that Mirajane was about to cry at that moment. She cupped her face in her hands and she ran up to the top floor, crying noises being heard from everyone in the guild.

Erza clenched her fists angrily at Laxus. "LAXUS!" she screamed. "What is wrong with you!? It's not bad enough that you're trying to belittle everyone in the guild, just because you're stronger than them, but to actually bring them to tears as well? You're despicable!"

In the blink of an eye, before anyone could say or do anything Laxus transformed into lighting and quickly materialized right in front of Erza. He caressed her chin with his finger flirtatiously. "Ya know, you're kind of hot when you're feisty…"

Erza growled and requiped a sword. "GET AWAY FROM ME!" She swung it as fast as she could at Laxus, but he disappeared into lighting and left the guild once again.

"One of these days, Laxus…" Makarov sighed, disappointingly. He jumped back down onto the ground floor and shook his head.

"Master, should I go check on Mira?" Lucy offered. The master nodded. Lucy raced as fast as she could up the stairs of the guild in order to comfort Mirajane.

Starr undid his magic wings and landed on the floor next to Natsu and Gray. He had the same expression on his face that Erza did, but to a lesser extent. "Natsu, Gray, who was that guy?"

Gray cracked his knuckles viciously. "That's Laxus Dreyar, an S-class wizard of Fairy Tail and the master's grandson…"

Natsu held up a flaming fist. "Oh, I swear when I get my hand on that jerk I'm gonna punch that pretty little face of his in!"

"But I don't get it, why is Laxus so cruel?"

Erza turned around, her bangs covering the expression of darkness on her face. He sent her sword back to where it came from and made a strong fist. "Laxus is a huge jerk with an ego to match… when, or if, he inherits the guild, he's going to kick everyone else out of Fairy Tail except for his body guards, the Thunder Legion…"

Starr's face went pale. "B-But, why? I thought that wizards in guild were supposed to support each other…"

"He thinks that unless you're up to his standards, you're not worthy of being in Fairy Tail. Of course, that's only his opinion…" Makarov stated. "Nobody but Laxus is that mean towards any of the guild members, so you have nothing to worry about. Now, let's get you officially registered as a member of Fairy Tail, shall we?" Starr took a deep breath and exhaled, and then smiled at his new master.

Once Lucy had finished comforting Mirajane, she used the magic stamper and placed Fairy Tail's guild mark on Starr's upper shoulder. Its color was bright yellow, almost gold. Starr admired the mark on his shoulder for a while.

"Man, I've always dreamed of joining a guild and having their guild mark on my shoulder, but I never thought that it'd ever happen!" he said, happily.

Lucy smiled at Starr. "Yep, you officially one of us now" she said happily.

"Hey, Starr, you never did tell us what kind of magic you use. You only told us you were a Star Dragon slayer, but that doesn't tell us much" Natsu pointed out.

Starr grinned. "Well, basically, my Star Dragon magic allows me to use many different types of magic. In fact, there isn't a lot of magic I can't do"

Everyone's eye widened. "Really?" They all asked.

Starr nodded. "Yep. Celestica taught me that I shouldn't limit myself to just one type of magic, and that I should be exploring every kind of magic so that I can become better acquainted with the different variations, and I agree. I mean, if a person can only use one type of magic, than if they run into someone that can overpower that magic, then you're toast. But, by learning to use different types of magic, you can find different counters to virtually anything"

Erza smiled. "That's actually a really good idea. It's almost like my requip armor, each armor serves a different purpose to better serve my needs, almost representing a different type of magic, but it's just one"

Starr's eyes widened with realization. "Hey, I think I remember you, now… you're Titania Erza, the wizard that can change her armor, right?" Erza nodded. "Can you do me a favor and battle with me?"

Gray, Lucy, Natsu and Happy's mouth's all hit the floor. They were all having the same thought at the moment. _'Is this kid nuts!?'_

"Please, Erza, nothing too bad, just like a sparring match. I've wanted to check out your requip skills and see how I match up against you. Please, just for a few minutes?"

Erza smiled confidently. "Alright, but I'm not going easy on you…"

Starr nodded. "I wouldn't expect anything less…"

Happy grew his wings and started flying away. Lucy raised an eyebrow at his actions. "Happy, where are you going?" she asked.

"I'm going to go order Starr an ambulance! There's no way that kid will last more than a minute against Erza and I just want to be sure he can get to a hospital fast!" he cried.

"Happy that's…" Lucy would have argued with him, but she then remembered how strong and frightening Erza can be. "Not a bad idea actually…"

Erza and Starr stood on separate sides of the guilds outdoor training grounds. Lucy, Gray and Natsu watched curiously from a bench as far away as possible from the two wizards. Lucy looked at her watch, waiting for Happy to arrive with an ambulance.

"Alright, so we're only going to go at it for two minutes, alright? I don't want you getting hurt too badly…" Erza stated.

"Ok, that sounds good! Lucy, can you time us?" Lucy nodded slowly at Starr's question. "Great, then let's begin!"

Each of them requiped a sword. Erza summoned a sword she would normally use in her Heaven's Wheel armor, and Starr called out a sword similar to that, only the design on the handle was different. It had a star logo in the middle of the Hollister and the edges pointed out like daggers. They both charged at each other with full force. The three on the sidelines covered their eyes, as if expecting the battle to be over the moment they clashed and Starr's blood to be spread all over the battle field, but all they heard was the sound of metal being clashed together. They all opened an eye, and were shocked when they saw that, not only was Starr _not _harmed in anyway, but he was actually holding his own against Erza! The two wizards were swinging their swords at each other while blocking the other's attacks all at the same time.

Erza and Starr took a step back and held their swords up in front of them. Erza smirked. "Not bad, I haven't met someone that could go toe-to-toe with me in a sword fight in a while…"

Starr panted slightly, but smirked back. "Thanks, same to you…"

"However, I'm sure that you won't be able to keep up with this…" Erza lowered her sword and began to requip her armor.

"Oh no, she's requiping her armor!" Lucy cried.

"Yep, he's dead now…" Natsu stated.

Before long, Erza had requiped into her Black Wing armor, complete with the sword that came with it. Starr took a step back in fear once looking at Erza in her new armor. Erza smirked once again, and charged straight for Starr.

"AHHH!" Starr screamed, but then he grinned. "Just kidding!" His body began to glow brightly and Erza flew back.

"No way!"

"He isn't…"

"But he is…"

They watched as Starr's clothes switched with silver, full body armor and gold stars attached to the knees and elbows. He now wore a helmet with a star just above the eyes. Erza was surprised, while the other's eyes were just about ready to pop out of their heads.

"HE DID AN ARMOR REQUIP!" Gray, Lucy and Natsu all screamed.

"But that's… impossible!" Erza shouted. "Only I can do armor requip magic!"

Starr's grin grew wider. "Well, not any more. What do you think of my Crashing Star Power armor, Erza? Actually, don't answer that until you get a closer look!" Starr charged once more at Erza, who was still in shock, but snapped back to normal and held up her sword in defense. She was amazed by the power when Starr's sword collided with her own. It had enough force that she actually sunk into the ground.

Starr jumped back and smirked once more at Erza. "Well, what do you know, I just matched Erza Scarlet's power"

Erza groaned. "You haven't won yet!" She quickly requiped her armor once more into her fearsome Purgatory Armor, complete with its powerful spiked mace-sword. She charged full throttle at Starr and swung her blade at him. He jumped back a few feet and followed Erza's requip with his own.

Starr's new armor was bulky and gold in color. Attached to each of his forearms was half of a large, silver star. His armor was remarkably similar to Erza's Adamantine armor. "Here's my Compressed Star Defense armor, it gives me amazing defensive skills!" he held his forearms together, making the half stars on each combine and in front of him formed a magic circle, one exactly like the one that he used when his wings appeared.

"Only thirty seconds left!" Lucy stated, watching the time tick slowly on her watch.

"Oh man, if this kid lasts that long, this guy will be one of the few people that matched Erza's strength!" Gray said, watching the battle closely. Natsu nodded in agreement.

Erza ignored the circle and stormed towards Starr forcefully. "Let's just see how defensive it is!" she yelled. She swung her mace at his armor, but the magic circle activated and formed a barrier around Starr, one strong enough to hold back even Erza's attack. Erza growled evilly and pushed even harder.

"Twenty seconds!"

Erza kept pushing as hard as she possibly could, and Starr's barrier began to crack. Erza smirked and removed her mace. She delivered one final blow to the barrier and shattered, sending Starr flying backwards into the ground.

"TEN SECONDS!"

Erza slowly raised her mace at the boy. "This is the end of the line!" she said.

Starr watched in horror as she held the mace above her head, ready to swing. Erza was too close for him to activate the barrier again, so he had no defense. Suddenly, he thought of a solution. "REQUIP!" he shouted. He switched back into his Power armor just as Erza swung her mighty mace at him. Using only his hands, he stopped Erza's mace just as it was about to hit him.

"TIME'S UP! YOU CAN STOP NOW, ERZA!" Lucy screamed.

Erza heard her scream and snapped out of her daze. She dispelled her Purgatory armor and mace, brought back her normal armor, and allowed Starr to rise to his feet. He panted a few times and smiled at Erza.

"I see… why they call you… Titania, Queen of the Fairies…" he said in between pants.

Erza smiled back at him. "You're pretty impressive yourself. Only one other person has been able to stand up to my Purgatory Armor, and that person was part of an elite group of assassination wizards"

Starr blushed and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Uh, thanks… I've never really had the opportunity to test out my strength against anyone before, so it's a real honour for you to be my opponent Miss Erza" the blonde bowed gratefully and dispelled his armor. He turned towards the three spectators. "Hey, can I test out my other magic against you guys?"

Gray and Lucy flinched. They both had the same thought going through their minds. _'If this guy can go toe-to-toe with Erza… what can he do to us?!'_

Lucy faked a smile, but had a sweat drop on the side of her face. "Uh, no thanks, we just came back from a job, so we're kinda tired… isn't that right, Gray?" Lucy looked at Gray for support, but flinched again when she saw that he had stripped to his boxers once again. "GRAY! PUT YOUR DAMN CLOTHES ON!"

Gray looked down and made a slight 'eep!' sound as he noticed that his stripping habit had gotten the better of him once again. "Aw shit!" he quickly scrambled to dress himself once again and sat back down on the bench.

Natsu stood up and held up another flaming fist. "I'll fight ya, kid!" he declared. "I love a challenge, and if you're on par with Erza than I want a piece of you too!" Starr didn't respond. "Uh… Starr?"

Everyone looked at the blonde and noticed that he had a streak of pink running across his face, and was looking in Gray's direction. Natsu clapped his hands in front of Starr's face, snapping the boy out of his daze. "Uh… sorry, did you say something?" he asked, rubbing the back of his neck, embarrassedly. Lucy noticed this reaction and hid a slight grin.

"Uh, yeah, I challenged you to a battle Starr!" Natsu yelled. "So put up your dukes and get ready to fight!"

"Oh, uh, can it wait a while… I only wanted to battle Erza today, so I'd rather spend the rest of my day looking for a job so that I can decide on what I can afford to live in" Starr explained.

"AW MAN! NO FAIR!" Natsu whined, childishly. He crossed his arms and huffed out a puff of fire.

"Well, I think I saw the perfect job for a beginning member of your caliber" Erza stated. "Follow me and I'll show you…" Erza walked into the guild, gesturing for the boy to follow her into the guild.

Starr nodded. "Alright…"

He was about to follow her inside, as were Natsu, Lucy and Gray, until they heard a loud siren going off. It was coming from the front of the guild. From the doors came two paramedics carrying a stretcher, and on the stretcher was Happy.

"Where is the patient?!" One of the medics asked, worriedly.

Everyone stared at them in confusion. "What patient?"

"We were told by the flying car that someone was fighting Titania Erza, so we rushed over here. Now, where is that unfortunate soul?"

Everyone pointed to Starr, including himself. "That would be me, and as you can see, I'm totally fine"

The medics sweat dropped. "So… the fight hasn't started yet?"

"Oh, it started… and it finished, with me coming out, I repeat, _totally fine_!"

The color in the two medics faces, as well as Happy's, lost all color. "T-That boy… fought _Erza_… and is… _UNHARMED_?!" Everyone nodded slowly. The medics dropped the stretcher and ran away in terror, while Happy flew away, both parties screaming "KEEP THAT MONSTER AWAY FROM US!"

Everyone blinked. They shrugged it off and followed Erza inside the guild.

**x~X~x**

**Well, that's it for the first chapter of "Starr, the Star Dragon Slayer". If any of you have any suggestions on what kind of Job that Starr and the others should do, please tell me. It should be something that should last for an entire chapter and have a reward that can be divided between the five of them (Natsu and Happy count for one). Ok, see you next time!**


	2. The Hydra

Starr, Natsu, Gray, Lucy and the recently recovered Happy all followed Erza to the request board. The red head placed one hand on her hip and used the other to point to a job request posted up on the board.

"Here's the job that I think you should try, Starr" Erza said, somewhat proudly. She tore the paper off of the request board and handed it to Starr. Everyone looked over his shoulders as he glanced at the request.

"_Help! A horrible monster has stolen the entire town's population of women and girls! I need a brave wizard who can defeat this horrific monster and save our women! Meet me at my home in Shirotsume Town for details. Reward: 25,000 Jewels per wizard" _Starr read off of the flyer. Above the reward and description was the silhouette of a monstrous being.

Starr stared at the paper with a confident smile. "This job looks perfect for me!" He said, excitedly. "The conditions seem ok, the reward is decent, and Shirotsume is only a train ride away from here"

"But, since this _is _your first job, it might be a good idea for you to take a few others with you" Erza suggested. "And since the reward is 'per wizard' you'd still be getting the same amount, even if you share it…" Erza looked over at Natsu, Gray and Lucy with a serious face, making the three of them flinch. "I want the three of you to go with Starr to Shirotsume Town and make sure his first job is a success, understand?" she ordered.

All of them saluted. "Aye!" they all said, somewhat afraid. Erza smirked at her love for striking fear into others to get them to do her bidding.

"Then I'll see you all when you get back" Erza waved the group goodbye and left the guild, likely for another job.

After Starr showed Mirajane the request flyer and had it officially recorded, the five of them went back to the train station and boarded the next train to Shirotsume. Natsu took a seat next to Lucy, already starting to feel sick to his stomach (even though the train hadn't even started yet) and Starr took a seat next to Gray. Natsu leaned over and laid his head on Lucy's lap.

"Man, I hate trains…" he mumbled.

A vein popped in Lucy's forehead. She rose as fist and punched Natsu on the side of the head, knocking him out cold. Starr sweat dropped at this action.

"Uh, Lucy… why did you do that to Natsu?" The blonde asked.

Lucy sighed. "Natsu _always_ gets sick whenever we have to use transportation vehicles, trains especially" she explained. "The only way for Natsu not to get sick when we're going somewhere is for me to knock him out. Erza usually does it, but since she's not here, I stepped in"

Gray scoffed. "What a flame brain…" he said, mockingly. Starr chuckled.

The train suddenly shaking and the group felt themselves moving.

The group talked about Starr's different variations of magic as they waited for the train to arrive at Shirotsume town until Lucy brought up a certain subject. "Hey, Starr, I've been meaning to ask you something" said Lucy.

"Fire away, Lucy"

"Can you use Celestial magic?"

Starr nodded. "Yep, I have contracts with quite a few spirits actually" Starr lifted up his shirt slightly to reveal three gold and several silver celestial keys dangling from a chain that was attached to his belt loops. "I can show you one of them if you like. It's only one of the spirits that people keep as pets though, so he's not too big"

Lucy nodded. "Yeah, that would be awesome. And when we get to Shirotsume you can show me the rest, seeing as you have gold Zodiac keys"

"Alright" Starr pulled off one of the silver keys he had tied around his chain and held it up. It had decorations like bear ears on the edge of the handle and the image of a teddy bear over the handle. "Open! Gate of Ursa Minor! Terry!" A small magic circle in front of the key and from it appeared a creature that looked like a miniature baby brown bear with a tiny star on its forehead. Its eyes were big and blue. The bear crawled up and into Starr's lap and curled up into a ball after letting out a soft yawn.

Pink hearts appeared in Lucy's eyes as she gazed at the ball of cuteness in Starr's lap. "Oh my gosh!" she squealed. Lucy picked the bear up out of Starr's lap and held him up. "You are the absolute cutest thing I've ever seen!"

"Uh, Lucy, I wouldn't do that if I were you!" Starr exclaimed, worriedly. He and Gray flinched as the bear woke up and bite down hard into Lucy's arm, resulting in a bloodcurdling scream. Gray covered Lucy's mouth with his hand, concealing the screaming, while Starr grabbed hold on the bear and patted him on the side. "Terry! Let go of Lucy right now!"

The bear let go of Lucy's arm and crawled back onto Starr's lap, falling asleep.

Lucy sighed in relief and looked painfully at her arm, which was now covered in sixteen tiny bite marks. She covered her arm with her other hand and began rubbing it. "Man, that hurt…" she moaned.

"Sorry, Lucy, I should have warned you about that" Starr said, apologetically. "Terry doesn't like being held by anyone other than me, so if someone tries… Terry bites…"

Lucy faked a smiled. "No it's fine, I should have asked first… but man this really hurts!"

"Oh, I can help with that…" Starr clapped his hands together and another magic circle appeared. He waved his hand over the bite marks. Everyone watched as the bite marks on Lucy's arm slowly healed and then disappeared completely. Lucy stared in amazement at her arm. It was as good as new, there wasn't even any pain!

"Wow, my arm feels even better than it did before!" Lucy stated, doing several punches with that arm for emphasis.

Starr smiled. "Glad I could help"

Once the train had arrived in Shirotsume town, and Starr sent Terry back to the Spirit world, the group (with Gray carrying Natsu) walked along the dirt roads of the town in search of the job's client. As they looked around, they noticed that all of the current occupants of Shirotsume were either young boys or adult men. The atmosphere seemed to be dreary.

"Man, this place seems nothing like the first time we came here…" said Lucy. "You know, Starr, mine and Natsu's first job took place right here in Shirotsume. Isn't that right, Natsu?"

Natsu barely made a sound as a response, seeing as how he was still barely awake and on the verge of throwing up.

Gray glanced over at the Dragon Slayer on his back with disgust written all over his face. "You better not puke on my back, pyro, or so help me I'll freeze you in a chunk of ice so cold and thick that even _your_ fire won't melt it!"

"Hey, guys, we're here" said Starr. The group stood outside a pub with an open door. Everyone went inside and took a look around. There were dozens of men from the town surrounding the bar, screaming at the bar tender for more beer.

"Ok, so who's the guy we're supposed to be looking for?" asked Gray.

Starr pulled out the request form and browsed through it. "Uh… a guy named Ryo Makino. It says that when we get here, go to the back of the room, and look for a man with bottles of alcohol surrounding him…"

Everyone glanced around the pub until they noticed a lone man sitting in the back of the pub, alone at a table. He had dark brown, spiky hair and blue eyes and was wearing a red turtle-neck sweater, beige pants and brown boots. He looked to be about middle aged and by the look of his facial hair he hadn't shaved in a long time. His cheeks were tinted pink, obviously meaning that he had been drinking a lot, not to mention the many empty bottles and cans of wine, alcohol and beer surrounding him.

Starr approached the man holding the request sheet up in front of him. The others followed him. "Excuse me, sir, but are you Ryo Makino?" he asked.

The man sighed. "Yep, that's me. Are you them wizards from Fairy Tail? The ones that came to rescue our ladies?" he asked, in a deep, muscular voice.

Lucy nodded. "Yes, that's us. If you don't mind sir, would you tell us what happened the town's women to begin with?"

The man placed a hand to his chin and began thinking. "Well, it started about a month ago…" Everyone huddled around the man as he began his story. "You see, this horrible monster arrived in town and decided that he'd make all of the women and girls in town his hostages. He ordered that if any women refused to go with him, he'd destroy the town without giving it a second thought. So all the girls followed him up to the mountain, and none have been seen since… Many have tried going after it, but none have succeeded… that's when we decided to have the magic council get involved"

"Alright, sir, I'm with you so far. What kind of monster is it?" Starr asked.

Ryo took a large drink of his "It was big, very big. It had five heads, had black and dark purple scales and it breathed fire, almost like a dragon without wings…"

Starr hummed softly, holding his hand to his chin. "I think this might be the work of a Hydra…"

Natsu and Happy blinked several times. "What's a Hydra?" they both asked.

"A Hydra is a large, reptile-monster, almost like a dragon, but different. Hydras love destruction and they feed on the misery of others. I'm guessing that it took the women of the town away so that it could feed on the misery of the men over their loss" Starr deducted.

"So, all we need to do is defeat this Hydra and we can rescue the girls?" asked Gray.

Starr shook his head and crossed his arms. "I'm afraid it's not that easy, Gray… A Hydra isn't like an annoying Vulcan that we can just beat up without a sweat, it's a monstrous being that can wipe out an entire town if provoked. But what I'm wondering is why it's only targeting the female citizens…"

Natsu pounded his fists together, a wide grin spread across his face. "Who cares if it's strong or not? All we need to know how much stronger I am!" he said, confidently.

Lucy gave the Fire-eater a nod, as did Gray. They both faced Ryo. "Don't worry, sir, we promise that we'll bring back the missing people of your town and defeat the Hydra!" Lucy declared.

Ryo smiled cheerfully. "Thank you, wizards of Fairy Tai-" he stopped before he could finish. His face turned a sickly green color and he covered his mouth with his hands. "Excuse me… I think I drank too much…" Ryo quickly made his way for the nearest bathroom, leaving the 4 wizards behind, their faces becoming slightly pale.

The group decided to head out instead of waiting for Ryo to finish throwing his insides up in the bathroom. Everyone made their way up the mountain that was located on the outskirts of town. Though it was only a short distance from Shirotsume, it was still quite a ways by foot.

Lucy and Starr let out an exhausted sigh. "Man I hate walking!" they both exclaimed.

"Would you two hurry it up?" Gray asked, a hint of annoyance in his voice. He and Natsu were already quite a distance ahead of Lucy and Starr.

Starr huffed. "That's it, I'm just going to fly…" A star magic circle appeared on Starr's back, and from it sprouted his wings. He did a small jump in the air and flew up to catch up with the other boys.

"And I'm summoning Horologium…" Lucy pulled out Horologium's silver key. "Open! Gate of the Clock Constellation! Horologium!" A celestial magic circle formed in front of the key, and from it quickly came the Clock spirit himself, Horologium. Lucy quickly climbed inside Horologium's casing and hugged her knees.

"'_Follow the boys please, Horologium'_ the lady asks" Horologium speaks for Lucy, and begins walking behind the others.

Natsu gave an annoyed groan. "Must you summon that clock spirit of yours every time you don't feel like walking?" he asked.

"'_Well _excuse _me if I don't like walking!' _she exclaims, sarcastically" Horologium said.

"Hey guys, I'm going to fly ahead and look for an entrance to the Hydra's lair" Starr stated and flew further ahead to the base of the mountain.

"'_Anyone else think that Starr is going to fit right into Fairy Tail?' _Lucy asks" Lucy says through Horologium.

Gray nodded. "Yep, the kid's definitely got the skill and bravery for it"

"And if he's as good as he was when he was going at it with Erza, I can't wait to fight him after this mission is done!" Natsu added.

"Aye!" Happy cheered, perched atop Natsu's head comfortably.

Lucy, Gray and Horologium all sweat dropped. "Is fighting really all you think about?" they all asked, sarcastically.

"Hey guys!" Starr shouted from the sky. Everyone looked up at him. "I found an entrance down at the base at the mountain! Follow me!" Starr flew in the direction he came from, and Natsu, Gray and Horologium all ran after him.

Starr led the group of wizards to the base of the mountain, where they found a small dark tunnel. Lucy found herself winding up on the ground after Horologium said "Time's up" and disappeared back to the spirit world.

"Ugh! You couldn't have warned me before you did that!?" Lucy yelled, angrily.

Starr dispelled his wings and stared fearfully at the cave. "Um… can't we find another entrance? I mean, I'm sure that we can find a different way to go inside the mountain…"

Natsu patted him on the back forcefully. "Come on, kid, it's not like you have a fear of the dark now do you?" he joked.

Starr didn't respond, he only lowered his head and blushed vividly. He poked his fingers together embarrassedly.

Natsu, realizing his mistake, rubbed the back of his neck and scratched his cheek. "Oh, uh… sorry, never mind…"

"

Gray browsed around the ground a picked up a dry stick. He walked over and stood in front of Natsu. "Natsu, say 'ah'" he ordered.

Natsu titled his head in confusion, but did as told. "Ahhhh…" he continuously chorused. Gray raised the stick on front of Natsu's mouth, and, using his free hand, he hit Natsu on the back of the head, resulting in a puff of fire to come out of the his mouth and lit the end of the stick on fire. The pinkette screamed in pain. "What the hell was that for!? I could have lit the stick on fire _without_ the need for you to hit me! Or I could have just held a flame in my hand!"

Gray smirked. "Yes, but like you said, I wouldn't get to hit you, and I love hitting you" he stated, nonchalantly. Natsu growled at the ice mage furiously. "Plus, this way we get even more light between us." Gray picked up two more sticks from the ground and used the first stick to light the others on fire. He handed a stick to Lucy and Starr, keeping one for himself. He gave a sympathetic look to Starr. "This ok now?"

Starr's cheeks turned redder and he nodded. "Uh huh…"

"Good, then let's go…"

Everyone walked into the narrow cave, Natsu being first, Lucy second, Starr after her, and Gray last. Starr, even with the torch in his hands, still seemed nervous as he and the others walked through the cave.

Lucy turned around to face the younger blonde. "Starr, if you don't mind my asking, why are you so afraid of the dark?"

"Well, uh… it's kind of a long story…" he replied, embarrassedly.

"We have plenty of time before we get to the Hydra"

"Well, let me see… when I was growing up with Celestica, she taught me that darkness represents evilness, and that I should avoid darkness as much possible. Since I was only a little kid back then, it made the wrong impression on me and I somehow turned it into a fear of the dark. So now, I'm terrified to be anywhere that doesn't have any light. Caves, alleys, moonless nights, you name it…"

Gray raised an eyebrow. "Why don't you just use your magic to make light? You said it yourself, your Star Dragon magic allows you to use almost any type of magic there is"

"That's another thing… my magic doesn't work in the dark. I'm alright at night as long as there are stars and the moon in the sky, but anything less and I'm useless in terms of wizardry…"

"Damn, you sure have a lot of weaknesses don't you?" said Natsu. "Well it's a good thing that _I_ don't have any"

Lucy gave him a blank stare. "Says the guy who gets sick from any form of transportation that isn't Happy"

Natsu flinched. Happy giggled softly. "You walked right into that one, Natsu" he teased.

"S-Shut up… Oh, there's the end of the tunnel!" Natsu pointed ahead.

The four wizards began running and soon they found themselves in a very large cave with several boulders dug deeply into the ground. The walls that made up the cave were covered in shining crystals that seemed to illuminate the whole area. The gang took a hiding position behind one of the boulders.

Starr sighed in relief. "Good, it's nice and bright in here. I'm ok to use my magic…"

"Well then, that's probably a good thing. Look at the size of that thing!" Gray whispered, pointing further into the chasm.

Everyone looked and turned white as ghosts when their eyes got a view of the monstrous being in front of them, the hydra. It had to be at least 20 stories tall. The Hydra had five heads, each with dark red, sharp teeth and a sharp horn on its snout the same color. Its skin was indigo in color and covered with black and silver armor, the latter of which was covered in spikes. Its tail was about as long as it's body and it several spikes were attacked to a black oval at the end. All in all, it was a mighty ferocious being. The Hydra was currently sleeping, next to a group of passed out girls, presumably the town's stolen women.

"This is perfect! We can rescue the girls and beat the Hydra without a fight!" said Starr. The others listened closely to the blonde. "Listen up everyone, I have a plan. First, I'll use my magic to conjure up some water, and then Gray will freeze it using his magic, trapping the Hydra in an icy prison without it even waking up to notice. Then, we'll wake up the girls and get them out of here. Finally, we'll use all of our magic at the same time and destroy the Hydra once and for all. Everyone clear? Gray?" Gray nodded. "Lucy?" Lucy nodded as well. "Natsu? …Natsu?" the three wizards noticed that the Fire Dragon Slayer was nowhere to be seen. "Where did he go?"

"Wake up you stupid dragon-wannabe!" a familiar voice echoed through the walls. "I wanna fight you!"

"He's not…"

"He wouldn't…"

"Please lord, don't let him be…"

Everyone slowly turned their heads and looked in the direction of the sleeping Hydra, and nearly fainted when they saw Natsu punching the heads of the Hydra repeatedly with fiery fists. "Wake up already! I'm not leaving until you wake up and fight me!" the idiotic mage shouted loudly as he continued punching the Hydra.

"NATSU, YOU IDIOT!" Gray and Lucy screamed.

"Natsu! Didn't you just hear my plan!? We could have gotten out of here without a fight!" Starr added.

Natsu ceased his attacks on the Hydra and faced the group. "Yeah, but where's the fun in that? How often do you get to battle a gigantic monster? Practically never!"

"And how often do you get to _keep your life_ when facing a gigantic monster? EVEN LESS THAN THAT!"

"Yeah, but those who survive a giant fight with things like this become legends!"

"We're not here to become legends! We're here to rescue the girls! So get your ass over here before you wake up the-" Gray froze in his tracks as he watched as the Hydra slowly rose from the ground. An evil glare from its evil, red eyes made everyone's spines crawl. The Hydra pounded the ground angrily with its tail and growled at the wizards.

"Who dares disturb my slumber?" one of the heads spoke.

Everyone pointed to Natsu. "HE DID!"

Natsu gave the group a blank stare. "Thanks for the loyalty, guys…"

"It matters not which of you woke me up…" said another head.

"You _all_ will parish!" stated a third head.

Starr shook his head, trying to shake away the fear. "I guess we don't have a choice… we have to fight it now! Thanks a lot, Natsu…"

Natsu punched his hand, confidently. "No problem. Now let's get to it! Happy!"

"Aye, sir!" the blue cat replied. He sprouted his wings and lifted Natsu into the air and flew at high speed towards one of the Hydra's head.

A large, orange flame appeared around Nastu's right hand. "Fire Dragon Iron Fist!" He shouted dramatically as he punched the Hydra's head with his fiery fist, separating the head from its neck and burning it to ashes.

Gray held out his left hand and placed his right hand in a fist in his left palm. "Ice Make: Sword!" A sword made entirely of ice appeared in his right hand. The ice mage then charged full speed towards and jumped into the air. Using the sword, he cut off another two of the Hydra's heads.

Lucy pulled out one of her gold keys. "Open! Gate of the Golden Bull! Taurus!" a celestial magic circle appeared and from it came Taurus, letting out a loud "MOO!" Lucy pointed towards the last two heads of the Hydra. "Taurus, cut off those Hydra heads!" Lucy ordered.

"As you wish, Lucy. I'd do anything to protect that nice body of yours!" Taurus stated, pink hearts in his eyes. He pulled the axe out from the holder on his back and charged at the Hydra. "Fierce Moove!" The bull spirit shouted loudly before jumping into the air and cutting off the last remaining heads of the Hydra.

The Hydra's body collapsed on the ground, and its heads all piled together in the corner of the cave, all void of life. Natsu, Happy, Gray and Lucy all high fived each other on a job well done.

"Awesome job, guys!" Lucy stated.

Natsu nodded. "Yeah! We kicked that Hydra's butt into next week!"

"You guys… have no idea what you've just done…" Starr muttered, his bangs covering his eyes. Everyone looked at the shorter blonde in confusion. He raised his head and gave the group a terrified look.

"What are you talking about, Starr? We just cut off all five of those Hydra heads. There's no way it could have survived" said Gray.

"You don't understand… When you cut off a Hydra head… two more grow back!" He exclaimed fearfully.

Everyone's eyes widened in shock. No one could make a sound, no one except for the Hydra behind them. Everyone slowly and nervously turned their heads around, and saw that instead of five, the Hydra now sported ten heads, all equally vicious-looking.

The monstrous being let out a maniacal laugh from all of its mouths. "Did you honestly think that you could beat us simply by slicing all of our heads off?" it asked sarcastically. "I, the mighty Hydra, am near invincible!" it let out a loud roar for emphasis.

"Guys, he's right! The only way to defeat a Hydra is to destroy the body first, so the heads have no way to grow back" Starr stated. "And the best way for us to destroy the body is to relax it… and I have just the spirit to do so…" The blonde pulled a gold key off of his chain and held it out in front of him. "Open! Gate of the _Golden Ram_!"

Lucy's eyes widened when she caught wind of the last two words. _'No… no it can't be…'_ she thought. _'He just can't be summoning _her_! Not-'_

"Aries!" A celestial magic circle appeared around the key, and from it came a spirit that Lucy never expected to see. The spirit was dressed in a short, white, wool dress, stopping just above below her legs, with pink wool balls attached to the hips, a brown belt tied on a slant around her waistline with an emblem for the ram constellation engraved onto it. She also wore white, wool boots and yellow stockings. She had pink hair that stretched down around her neck and was puffed up to look like it was made of wool, with two small, brown horns sprouting just above her ears.

Aries made a shy pose with her hand pushing down the edge of her dress and her holding her other hand in a soft fist below her mouth. "D-Did you summon me, Master?" she asked timidly.

Starr nodded. "I need your help, Aries" he pointed in the direction of the Hydra, which was preparing to fire an attack from its mouths. "I need you to use your Wool Bomb on the Hydra so that it will calm down long enough for us to defeat it! I know it's a lot to ask of you, but I can't do this without you, Aries! Please help us!"

Aries nodded. "R-Right!" The two turned to face the Hydra, but it was already too late. The Hydra's attack had finished charging up and was getting ready to unleash it.

"You brats have tried my patience long enough! Now you die! HYDRA BURST!" The Hydra screamed before releasing ten balls of fire, one from each of its head. The fire balls combined mid-attack into a massive ball of flaming fury, flying at rapid speed towards the wizard and his spirit.

Starr didn't have time to requip into his defense armor and protect Aries, so he did the only thing that he could… "Aries! Watch out!" Starr raced in front of Aries and spread his body out in front of her.

Just as the attack was about to collide with Starr and Aries, it was inexplicably redirected towards Natsu. The fireball began to disintegrate and dissolve as it made its way into Natsu's mouth. The Fire Dragon Slayer let out a belch and grinned. "Oh yeah, now I got a fire in my belly!"

All ten mouths on the Hydra dropped like rocks. They all had a bead of sweat running down the side of their faces. "Unbelievable… THAT KID _ATE_ OUR STRONGEST ATTACK!"

Natsu let out a sinister chuckle. "Now it's our turn…" Natsu held his hands, cupped, in front of his mouth. "Fire Dragon's Roar!" A fierce wave of fire erupted from Natsu's hands and was shot directly at the Hydra.

"Hey, you not getting all the credit for beating this thing!" Gray quickly conjured up a bazooka made entirely of ice. "Ice Make: Ice Cannon! Fire!" The Bazooka fired a large ice cannonball from the nozzle and followed Natsu's flame.

"Don't leave me out of the mix!" Starr assumed the same position with his hands that Natsu did. "Star Dragon's Roar!" A tornado of wind, light and yellow stars emerged from his hands and joined the ice cannonball and fire, combining with it and creating a triple-attribute hurricane of power. The hurricane collided with the Hydra, resulting in a large explosion and destroying it completely.

Once the smoke cleared, everyone looked around the cave. The Hydra was nowhere to be seen. The three boys threw their hands in the air and cheered.

"Yahoo! We beat a Hydra!" Natsu yelled.

"Yeah we did!" Starr said in agreement. He then remembered that Aries was still there behind him. "Oh, sorry Aries, I forgot you were still here. You can go home now, sorry I summoned you for nothing…"

Aries nodded. "Right, g-goodbye…" and with a puff of smoke, Aries disappeared, back to the celestial spirit world.

But before Starr could go back to celebrating, Lucy clasped a hand over his shoulder. He turned to face her. "Something wrong, Lucy?" he asked.

"That key… it belonged to Karen Lilica, am I right?" she asked, darkness dripping from her voice.

Starr's eyes widened as he stared at Lucy with a hurt expression. "… yeah… she did…"

"How… how do you have that key?!The person that was responsible for Karen's death was supposed to have taken it!" Lucy yelled.

Starr looked like he was about to cry. "Because… I'm the reason that Karen died…"


	3. The Story of Karen Lilica's death

**Hey guys, this is the next chapter of "Starr, the Star Dragon Slayer". I would like to point out two things: **

**1) Star fruit IS an actual fruit… a very delicious fruit I might add -^^-.**

**2) I'm sorry if my story of how Karen died defeats the entire purpose of Leo (Loke) getting banished from the spirit world in the first place.**

**Other than that, I hope you enjoy it!**

**-x~X~x-**

"Because… I'm the reason that Karen died…"

Everyone gasped, their mouths dropped like dead flies.

The news about something like this was almost too much to believe, for Lucy especially. Her eyes were practically soulless, she couldn't say a word. All she could do was stare at the Star Dragon Slayer with an angered and hurt expression on her face. Sure, Lucy never liked Karen Lilica for what she did to Aries and Loki, but she knew the lion spirit still cared deeply for his former owner, despite her torturous ways, and he never wanted her to die.

"Starr… are you saying… _you _killed Karen?" Lucy finally managed to mutter out.

"There's no way!" Natsu proclaimed. "Star couldn't kill anyone! He's way too nice! …well, he _did_ just help us kill a Hydra, but that's _entirely_ different!"

Starr shook his head. "No… _I_ didn't kill Karen… but I wasn't able to keep her alive either…" there were small trickles of tear drops running down the boy's face.

Gray crossed his arms. "Starr, you're not making any sense. Just tell us what you're talking about already"

Starr used his sleeve to wipe away the tears spilling from his eyes. "I'll explain everything to you guys… but not here. I'll tell you guys the full story on the train ride home… we need to get all of the girls back to the town…"

Though they were immensely curious, they agreed that all of the women needed to be returned back to the town as soon as possible. So, Natsu, Gray, Lucy and Starr got to work waking up and untying the hostages from the ropes they were tied in, and escorted them back to the town, not saying a single word the whole while. Starr resisted the urge to cry as he and the others made their way down the tunnel and out of the mountain on the way back to Shirotsume town.

When they arrived, all of the girls immediately began running into the arms of their loved ones, all of which were eagerly accepting. Everyone was crying tears of joy upon the safe return of the town's women safely returning home.

The group was soon confronted by Ryo, with his arm tucked soundly under the arm of a somewhat attractive woman with the same shade of brown hair as him, and dressed in a white dress and white heels. "Thank you so much, kids!" he exclaimed. "I can't tell you how much I've missed my beloved wife, Rika"

Natsu gave a thumbs-up. "No problem, glad we could help. That Hydra won't be bothering you anymore"

Ryo smiled. "That is good news to hear"

"If you don't mind, sir, we have a train to catch so we're going to need that reward" said Gray.

"Oh, alright, hold on…" Ryo pulled a wallet out from his jacket and took out enough reward for each of the wizards. He gave them each the right amount of reward money before he and his wife departed.

The wizards then made their way back to the train station and boarded the next train headed back to Magnolia. Starr and the others each took a seat, all eyes focused on the blonde boy. He shrunk into his seat in despair and shame as the others glared daggers at him.

"Alright, Starr, start talking" Lucy ordered with an ominous tone. "How _exactly_ did Karen die?"

Starr sniffled. "Well, I guess the best way to explain it would be to tell you the whole story, starting from when I first met Karen…"

***Flash back* (Starr's POV)**

_It was about three years ago. I continued my quest for a guild to join and call it my home, then I came across the Blue Pegasus guild. I thought that it may be the guild I was looking for, so I went inside to speak to the guild master. But when walked through the doors all I saw was a woman with long, green hair and a fancy, likely expensive, outfit yelling at a short, bald man wearing a pink spaghetti-strap shirt and pink and purple vertically stripped shorts._

"_Master, let me go on this job! I need the money!" The woman yelled._

"_I'm sorry, Karen, but I can't" the man replied. "You and Leo haven't worked out your issues yet and you're not strong enough to summon two spirits at once, so sending you on a dangerous mission would be an idiotic mistake"_

_I was intrigued by this conversation. I walked over to the man and the woman to find out what they were talking about._

"_Uh, excuse me…" the man and woman looked in my direction. "If you don't mind my asking, what are you two talking about?"_

_The woman huffed. "Who are you? And why are you butting into other people's business?" she asked rudely._

_I took a step back. "Well, I'm Starr Celestia, and I just thought that I might be able to help you…"_

"_Yeah? Well now you can beat it! This isn't any of your concern so go eat a lollipop or something" I was kind if hurt by her attitude, seeing as how I was only about 11 years old at the time._

_The man sighed and walked over to me. "Don't mind her, she's just a bit frustrated by the fact that her celestial spirits are defying her orders." He said. "I'm bob, the guild master of the Blue Pegasus… and you are cute! Just look at those chubby cheeks of yours!" he pinched my cheeks painfully. _

"_OW! THAT HURTS!" I cried in pain._

_Master Bob quickly let go of my cheeks. "Sorry. Now, if you don't mind, I have to finish telling one of my wizards why she _can't_ go on a mission until she resolves her relationship with Leo" _

_I looked at Master Bob and then at the woman. "Who's Leo?" I asked._

_The woman scoffed. "Man, you're a nosy little brat aren't you? Fine, if you must know, my stupid spirit is upset because he just cares way too much for his precious little Aries…"_

_Master Bob switched his focus back to the woman. "Karen, that's not true and you know it! I told you that if you didn't stop treating your spirits like they were nothing that they would rebel against you, and that's exactly what happened!" _

"_Wait, Karen? As in Karen Lilica?" I asked._

"_That's right, the one and only" Karen said, flipping her hair. "You want an autograph or something?"_

"_No, I just wanted to make sure you're the same Karen that I've heard about… most of the people who talk to you are people who think you're a witch" I replied, backing away slowly._

_A vein became visible on Karen's forehead. An evil glare began shooting daggers out of her eyes I my direction, holding up an angered fist. "Why you little… how dare you say that to me!" she growled. I took another step backwards. She sighed and then faced the master. "I'll deal with you later, brat! Master Bob, I'm going on this mission and you can't stop me!" Karen dashed her way out the door, leaving Master Bob and me behind._

_The master sighed. "Oh, Karen… what am I going to do with you?"_

"_What's the problem, Master Bob? If Karen's a wizard than she should be fine to take on a job, plus, I've heard that she's a remarkable celestial wizard"_

"_But that's the problem, she's not as strong as she appears…" I raised an eyebrow. "One of Karen's spirits refuses to go back to the celestial spirit world, and Karen's too weak to summon more than one spirit at a time. So, at the moment, Karen is practically powerless… I guess I'll have to go after her…"_

_Just then, I had a great idea. "Wait, Master Bob, why don't you let me go with Karen? I'm a wizard too!" I offered. I figured that if I want to join any guild, than I should show my worth as a wizard. "I can take care of Karen _and _get the job done"_

"_Are you sure? Karen took on a high paying job, and since she needs the money badly enough I'm sure that she won't share the reward with you, not to mention that it was a dangerous job…" _

_I shook my head. "Don't worry, I don't need money right now. All I'm looking for is a guild to call my own, so I wanna show you what I'm made of!"_

_The master nodded. "Alright then, you may go on this job with Karen. When you get back, we'll talk about you joining the guild officially"_

_I bowed gratefully. "Thank you so much, Master! You won't regret this, I promise!" _

***Flashback ends* (Normal POV)**

"And after that I raced out the door to catch up to Karen, that's how I ended up going on the job with her…" Starr explained.

Everyone nodded… well, other than Natsu, who was puking out the train's window…

"Alright, I'm with you so far, keep going…" Lucy said. She seemed to have calmed down somewhat since the train left the station.

Starr nodded. He too had calmed down since they left, evident by his lack of crying now. "Alright, well after I caught up with Karen…"

***Flashback* (Starr's POV)**

"_Absolutely not!" Was Karen's reply when I told her I'd be joining her._

"_Karen, I'm coming on this mission with you only for support and experience , you can keep all the money if you want" I explained fully._

"_I don't care! I don't need your help, no matter what the old man says!" She yelled. "I'm fully capable of taking care of myself. I especially don't need help from someone who should still be in diapers"_

_Man, was she stubborn… that's when I got another idea._

_I grinned. "Tell you what Karen, if you can show me just one form of combat magic then I'll let you go on this mission by yourself, but if you can't then you have to let me go on this mission with you"_

_Karen's eyes widened. "I-I don't need to prove myself to a child…"_

"_Does that mean that you can't?" I asked, tauntingly._

_Karen let out an annoyed groan. She quickly spun around and began walking. "Just don't get in my way!" she barked._

_I smiled and started following her. "So, what's the job we're doing anyway?"_

"_We're going to the Worth Woodsea to destroy a monster called a Manticore, doesn't sound too difficult to beat if it has the word 'Man' in it, I deal with a dozen boyfriends every week" She reached into her jacket and handed me the job flier._

'A Manticore has been devouring our citizens that walk through the Worth Woodsea to retrieve food. Our town is running dangerously low on food. Please destroy the Manticore so that we can once again bring food to our town from outside towns. Reward: 1,000,000 Jewels'_ I read from the flier._

"_1,000,000 Jewels!? Karen, people don't offer a reward like that without the job being incredibly dangerous and difficult! You were going to take that job on, even though you can't use magic?!" I screamed._

"_I don't have a choice alright! I haven't taken on a job in three months, thanks to that stupid Leo… so I took on the job with the biggest reward! I need the cash!" she yelled. "Now just shut up until we get back to the guild!"_

_I sighed. I honestly knew that I wasn't going to get through to her with words. "Alright…"_

_The trip from the guild hall to the Worth Woodsea wasn't too long. It only took a two hour train ride from the train station to the town closest to it. It's called Atsushi town, not a very big place. There were only about a hundred or so houses and buildings in the town. There was a strip of stores that lead directly up to a large mansion. As Karen and I walked up the strip, I noticed all the produce and meat stores were all empty and closed. _

"_The people all seem so sad…" I said quietly._

"_Who cares? As long as we get the job done, I don't give a crap what happens to these people…" Karen commented rudely. The look in her eyes told me she didn't seem like she could care any less for the state the town was in, only for the amount of money she was going to get for defeating the Manticore. I kept quiet until we arrived at the mansion, where the job's requester lived._

_When we entered the mansion, we were escorted by a young maid into a large, luxurious room. We took a seat on the leather, three sided couch set up. _

"_The master will be here in just a moment, sorry for the wait" One of the maids said to us._

"_That's alright, we can wait a few minutes" I told them._

_They quickly bowed and exited the room, closing the doors behind them._

"_What? Nothing to drink? Man, these people aren't very efficient…" Karen said, dryly. _

_I gave her a glare. "Karen! This place is on a shortage of food and water and you know that! They can't afford to give away those things! I'm sure you can suck it up for a few hours until we finish our job!"_

_Karen groaned. "Ugh, fine. You're an annoying little runt, you know that?"_

_I groaned as well and sat back in the couch. _

_Suddenly, the door opened and the maids and a man with short, grey hair dressed in a black tuxedo walked inside. The man took a seat across from us and waved to the maids. "Mira, Alexis, I can take it from here"_

_The maids bowed once again. "As you wish, Master" they said together before taking their leave._

_The man turned to face us. "Welcome to my home. My name is Kyon Anderson, and you must be the wizards from the Blue Pegasus guild, am I right?"_

_Karen and I nodded. "That's right, I'm Starr and this is Karen" I said. _

_Kyon took a closer look at me. "Aren't you a little young to be a guild wizard?"_

"_Well… I'm not _officially _a Blue Pegasus wizard yet, but I might be if this job goes well. So why don't you tell us more about this Manticore that's been bothering you?"_

_Kyon nodded. "Ah, right. You see, about a month ago, a Manticore mysteriously appeared in the Worth Woodsea. No one knows where it came from or why it came here. All we know is that it's cutting off our main source of food and water. We have no access to food from anywhere else, and anytime some of our brave townspeople try to retrieve some food from the forest… they're never seen again…"_

"_Well, you'll be back to being able to stuff yourselves like toy animals soon enough" Karen stated in a somewhat snarky attitude. I gave her a silent glare._

"_I think what my partner means is, we'll take care of the Manticore in no time so you won't have to survive without food for long" I said more politely._

_Kyon smiled. "That's what I wanted to hear…"_

_I stood up from the couch. "And in the meantime, I can make it so everyone can eat while we take care of this problem"_

_Kyon and Karen raised an eyebrow. "How?" they both asked._

_I winked. "Just have everyone in town gather outside the mansion"_

_Though they were confused, Kyon did as followed and had the entire town's population gather in a small crowd outside the gates of the mansion. I stood in front of them._

"_Attention, everyone!" I called out. Everyone looked at me. "While we take care of the Manticore problem, I am going to provide you with food for the time being!"_

_Everyone in the crowd appeared to be in a better mood than when we arrived in town. "But how do you plan to do that?" a random person shouted._

"_With my Solid Script magic" I answered. "I can write whatever I want and it will take the physical form of what the word says. I know it may sound a little confusing, but I'm going to show you now…" I raised my hand in front of me and held up my index and middle fingers. "Star Dragon Magic! Solid Script: Apple!" I used my fingers to write the word 'Apple' in the air, and in seconds, a magic circle appeared and from it came a large, animated writing of the word 'Apple'. It was written in red bubble letters and at the top of each letter of the word were a brown stem and a tiny, green leaf. It slowly descended into the arms of one of the townspeople._

"_What's this?" the man asked._

_I grinned. "Take a bite from it"_

_The man shot me an 'Are you out of your mind?' look, but complied and took a bite out of the 'A'. His eyes widened with shock. He chewed the chunk of the 'A' slowly and then swallowed. A smiled graced his lips. "Oh my god! It's an apple!"_

_Several more people took bites out of the word and smiled just as wide as the man holding it. "He's right! It's a real apple!"_

"_Yep, that's the power of my Solid Script magic: whatever I write becomes what it spells." I explained. "I'll show you again, but first…" I looked over at an empty patch of land and smiled. I held out my right hand and placed my left fist onto it. "Maker Magic: Glass Pool!" Another magic circle appeared on the ground. Shortly, a large, glass pool arose from the magic circle and stood ten feet above the ground. Beside it was a glass staircase that led up to the edge of the pool. _

"_And now…" I held up my fingers again. "Solid Script: Water!" I drew the word 'Water' in the air and a magic circle appeared above the pool. Out of it came another animated version of the word 'Water', written in blue and in wavy characters, and soon dispersed into the pool, taking on the form of actual water. _

_The crowd of people cheered loudly and began running up the glass steps and taking in mouthfuls of the water, not bothering to get a glass from their homes, some even diving head first into-_

***Flashback ends* (Normal POV)**

"HOLD UP!" Happy yelled, interrupting Starr's story. "Are you saying that you can create food out of thin air?!"

"Uh, yes? Why do you ask, Happy?" Starr questioned, giving the blue cat a confused look.

"Can you make me fish? This story is getting good and I'm hungry!"

Lucy smacked her forehead in frustration. "Shut up you stupid cat! We're about to find out how Karen died!"

"I honestly don't seem the harm in a little snack, Lucy…" Starr raised his hand in the same position from his story. "Solid Script: Fish!" Before long, Happy was happily nibbling on an animated version of the word 'Fish'. "That should keep him busy for a little while, now back to the story…"

***Flashback* (Starr's POV)**

_I spent the next little while conjuring up varieties of food for the townspeople with my Solid Script magic, and after that, Karen and I were on our way to and eventually deep inside the Worth Woodsea. I struggled quite a bit to keep up with her. I used a bit more magic making all of that food than I had intended, and it was starting to take its course. I dropped to my knees and took several deep breaths out of exhaustion._

_Karen turned around with an annoyed look on her face. "Kid, if you're tired than take a nap or something, I'll take care of the Manticore myself!"_

"_No… I just… need to… catch my breath… for a minute…" I muttered between my breaths._

"_Ugh! How did I get stuck babysitting?" She moaned. "Alright, we'll stop for a minute, and you better be ready to go by then!"_

"_Thanks…" I sat up and leaned myself up against a tree trunk. I relaxed my body and allowed my magic energy to start to replenish itself, when suddenly, I felt something fall out of the tree and into my lap. I opened my eyes and saw that it was piece of fruit. It was yellow and shaped like a banana, except the cross-section was shaped like a star. I knew exactly what it was. "Awesome, star fruit!"_

"_What in the world is that?" Karen asked._

"_It's a type of fruit that grows in the shape of a star. To most people, it's a sweet and delicious snack, but for a Star Dragon Slayer like me, they're like power-ups!" I quickly took a big bite of the fruit and swallowed it. I instantly felt a lot stronger and my magic power increasing rapidly. Before long, the fruit was gone and I was completely recharged. I jumped up from the ground and stretched myself out._

"_Wow, you sure bounce back quickly. Now let's hurry up and find-" Karen was quickly cut off when she and I heard a loud, ferocious roar coming from behind us. We turned around and we saw a vicious-looking beast with the head of a man, the body of a lion, and sprouting from its back were a set of back wings._

"_The Manticore? I don't think we have to worry about finding him… because I think he just found us…" I spoke, somewhat fearfully._

"_Are you another set of fools that think you can defeat me?" It spoke in a dark, ominous tone. "Because to me, it looks more like I've found my next meal!"_

_Karen pulled out a gold spirit key. "Oh yeah? Well to me it looks like I've found my new fur pelt! Open! Gate of the-"_

"_Karen, don't!" I shouted at her. "You don't have enough magic to summon any spirits! If you try you'll just waist your magic and possibly hurt yourself!" I requiped a sword into my right hand and a whip into my left. I handed Karen the whip. "Use this, it doesn't take up any magic, but it's just as effective"_

"_Fine, if it'll shut you up…" she unravelled the whip and snapped it against the ground, creating a loud _'CRACK'_ sound. "Take this you over-grown puppy!" she swung her whip at the Manticore, smacking it across the side of its face. It cried out in pain._

"_My turn!" I charged at the Manticore, sword first, aiming to take its eye out while it was still stunned from the whip._

_The Manticore shook it's head and noticed me coming at it. "I don't think so!" The Manticore spread its wings and flew into the sky, avoiding my attack. I looked up and noticed it flying in Karen's direction. She swung her whip at it once again, but the Manticore swung around in a different direction and avoided it. _

"_The same trick won't work on my twice!" It shouted at her. The beast then flew at her at high speed. _

_Karen pulled out her key once again. "I guess I don't have a choice… Open! Gate of the Golden Ram! Aries!" She swung her key and from the magic circle that was created, Aries appeared. _

_The Manticore ended up hitting Aries instead of Karen, the latter of which jumped back a safe distance from her spirit. I watched Aries cried out in pain, as the Manticore ripped through her. Her body was almost completely disintegrated and she cried tears of pain and fear before she disappeared back into the spirit world. I never saw anyone look so in pain as Aries did then._

_Karen panted heavily for a few moments, but then started chuckling. That chuckled built up into a laugh, and then into a maniacal cackle. "I can finally do it! I can summon Aries again, even _with_ that annoying Leo still in this world! It took three months for my magic to build up, but I did it!" she continued her cackling, as if she was having the time of her life… but I on the hand… I couldn't believe what she had just done. She summoned Aries for the soul purpose of a shield… and she was enjoying it…_

_I grew my wings and charged angrily at the Manticore. I don't think I'd ever flown so fast in my life. And as fast as I'd flown to it, I swung my sword and cut off the Manticore's head. It didn't have time to even let out a scream of pain before its head was bouncing a few times off the ground. Its headless body went limp and collapsed on the ground. The Manticore was dead._

"_Yes! Those 1,000,000 jewels are all but mine now!" Karen spoke behind me, though I barely heard her. The only thing I could hear clearly was the sound of my wings dispelling, but not my sword. "Ya know, you might not be such a brat after all. In fact, I might even share part of the reward with you, a small part of course…" I heard her walking up to me and I drew my sword once more. I held it up, only an inch away from her face. She froze in her footsteps._

"_Hey! What's the big idea?!" She yelled. I gave her the most sinister glare I could muster… though it probably wasn't as intimidating as it should have been, given my age…_

"_You used Aries as a shield…"_

"_Yeah? So what? It's not like Aries can die, she's a spirit!" she took a step back and flipped her hair. "She's just a tool to help me get my work done… and now that I can summon her again, Leo isn't going to be much of a problem anymore…" _

_That did it. I didn't care what happens, all I knew was that Karen needed to be taught a lesson, and she was about to meet her teacher…_

_I brought my sword back beside my hip, still pointed at Karen. "You need to know what it's like to be on the other side of battle, Karen, for Aries sake…" In a barrage of swings, I started going after Karen with my sword. She immediately started to back away from me with each swing I took._

"_What the hell do you think you're doing you little punk!? I don't have enough magic to summon Aries back to protect me!" She yelled as she dodged each of my attacks._

"_That's the idea!" I shouted._

_I continued swinging at Karen, until she tripped over a rock and hit the ground. At that time, I stood over her, my sword handle in both hands, the blade pointed directly at her throat. "It's about time you learned what Aries goes through every time you summon her!" Karen stared fearfully at me as I raised my sword for the final blow. She clenched her eyes shut when I dropped my sword. _

_Just as it was about to make contact with her throat, I stopped the sword and returned it back to where it came from. After some time, Karen slowly opened her eyes, and sighed contently once she realized that she was no longer in danger._

"_Were you scared, Karen?" I asked her._

"_YOU'RE DAMN RIGHT I WAS SCARED! YOU NEARLY KILLED ME!" She screamed._

"_That's the exact same fear that goes through Aries and, quite possibly, Leo's minds when you use them as shields!" _

_Karen was about to respond, but then, a look of realization came over her entire being. "They can… have fear?"_

_I nodded. "Yes, Karen, they can! Celestial Spirits aren't tools, they're living beings and deserve to be treated as such! They may not be able to die as easily as us, but they feel pain just like us! If I were to have cut both of you in the same place with my sword than you would both feel the exact same pain! They're hardly any different from you or me!" I began to feel tears fall down my face and onto the ground. "Karen… that's why Leo left isn't it, because of the way you were treating Aries…"_

_Karen looked away, but nodded. "Yeah… he wanted me to void his and Aries contracts… and I'm starting to think he's right…" pretty soon, she began crying as well. "I'm a horrible Celestial Wizard… I don't deserve to have _any_ spirits, let alone two spirits as wonderful as Aries and Leo… they did whatever I said, no matter how badly I treated them…" I allowed Karen to stand up, and she wiped away her tears with her sleeve. "But I'm going to fix that… I'll terminate both of their contracts… and I'll give both of their keys to you, Starr…" she wrapped her arms around me. "If it weren't for you, who knows what would have become of Leo and Aries in the future… so I'm giving them both to you. Please take good care of them, the way that I should have…"_

_I wrapped my arms around her as well. "I will, Karen… I promise…" _

***Flashback ends* (Normal POV)**

"Alright, that explains how you got Aries' key, but not how Karen died or how you are responsible for it" Lucy stated.

"That's going to be next… and trust me, it's not going to be pretty…" Starr replied, tears starting to well up in his eyes once again.

***Flashback* (Starr's POV)**

_Once we finished our embrace, Karen had a look on her face that was completely different from before. She had a mixture of joy, shame and guilt all rolled into one look on her face. _

"_As soon as I get back to the guild, I'm going straight to the ruins and I'm ending Aries and Leo's contracts immediately!" she said confidently._

"_If you want, you can end Aries contract right now" I suggested._

"_I would, but I don't have any magic left…"_

_I smiled. "Leave that to me…" I took each of Karen's hands with my own and closed my eyes. A magic circle appeared underneath us. "Star Dragon Magic: Energy Transfer!" I shouted. Before long, the magic circle disappeared and I let go of Karen's hands._

"_What did you just do?" she asked._

"_I just transferred part of my magic into your body. Now, you have just enough energy to summon Aries so you can end her contract" I explained._

_Karen smiled proudly. "Thank you…" she pulled out Aries' key once more. "Open! Gate of the Golden Ram! Aries!" In a matter of seconds, Aries appeared before us. Her body was whole again, but it was still covered in quite a bit of damage from being hit by the Manticore._

_Aries cover her head fearfully with her arms. "P-Please, ma'am, I can't fight anymore…" she cried._

_Karen gave Aries a warm smile. "You can relax, Aries, you are no longer at my beck and call…"_

_Aries looked up at Karen with a shocked look on her face. "Pardon me, ma'am?"_

"_You heard me, Aries, as of right now, I'm voiding your contract and I'm no longer you're wizard…" Aries looked she was going to cry out of happiness. "But there is a condition…"_

_Aries blinked. "A… condition?"_

_Karen placed a hand on my shoulder. "You have to become Starr's wizard instead. He's the one who taught me that you and Leo are more than just tools. Without him I would never had realized my mistake and you would still be my servant. So that's the deal, take it or leave it…"_

_It didn't take long for the ram spirit to build into a fountain of tears. She tackled Karen with a hug. "Thank you so much ma'am!"_

_Karen hugged her back. "You're welcome, Aries…"_

_I nearly cried along with Aries. It was such a wondrous sight… _

_But that's when it all went downhill…_

_I didn't even have time to react as I watched a blue laser beam shoot out of nowhere and right through Aries and Karen. Aries, already injured enough, returned to the spirit world, but Karen… she collapsed on the ground. There was a large hole in her stomach, a pool of blood beneath her. She looked like she was just barely clinging to the outside of death's doors, trying to stay alive. "Ar…ies… Le… o… I'm… sorry…" she muttered, before she assumed a horrendous look. She wasn't moving… she wasn't breathing… her eyes were soulless… Karen was dead…_

_I sunk to the ground in sorrow. I couldn't believe it… Just when Karen had learned her lesson, that spirits aren't tools or shield… she gets killed…_

_I suddenly heard a sinister, high pitched laugh coming in the direction the laser came in. "Man, that was fun! Just look at her face! Good job, Caelum!"_

_I looked over in that direction and I saw two figures standing on a cliff edge. One was a human girl, who had short, silvery-blue hair and she was wearing a revealing dress made to look like it was made of angel feathers along with angel wings flowing out the back. The other was a metal sphere-like object with a white halo hovering over it._

"_Next, I want you to aim for that little boy there!" the woman ordered. _

_The sphere-thing seemed reluctant, but complied and transformed into a cannon that looked a lot like it's previous. It fired a blast at me, but I quickly avoided it by tucking and rolling across the ground. Once the blast subsided, I stood up and I glared daggers at the woman._

"_What in the world did you just do?! Who are you and why did you kill Karen!?" I screamed, tears making a stream from my eyes down my face._

_The woman flipped her bangs. "My name is Angel, a member of the Oracion Seis and this is one of my celestial spirits, Caelum. My mission is to turn anyone I see into an angel. Humans only use the world for conflict and for violence, so I make it my duty to rid the world of these awful creatures and turn them into angels… plus, it's just soooo much fun!"_

_That woman… she kills for… joy… _

_I could only see in red beyond that point. I requiped into my Crashing Star armor and conjured up my wings and dual swords, then wiped away my tears once again. "You killed Karen… and now…_ I'm going to kill you_!" I charged as fast as I could into the sky at up at Angel. She just narrowly avoided getting hit my swords, though she kept a calm face the entire time. _

"_You're going to have to try harder than that if you want to beat me! Caelum! Sword form!" She shouted. Caelum quickly changed its shape once again into what appeared to be a sword. Angel took it by the handle and pointed it at me. "I think it's about time I turned you into an angel as well" She ran towards me and swung her spirit/weapon above me. I blocked it with my Dual swords and threw her back._

"_I'm a lot more powerful than you'd think I am! I was raised by a Dragon!" I yelled._

_Angel groaned. "You want power? I'll show you power!" She dropped Caelum, who then returned to its original form, and pulled out a gold spirit key. "Open! Gate of the Scorpion! Scorpio!" From the magic circle appeared a tall, male spirit. He had short, red and white that was split down the middle of his scalp. He didn`t have a shirt, but around his neck was a red, flower shaped collar with golden ridges. He wore a large, gold belt with the symbol of the scorpion constellation engraved in it, black pants and a red robe draped over it. He had a large tail attached to him that resembled a scorpion`s tail and hung over his head, pointing ahead of him._

_The spirit held his index and little fingers up, mimicking the appearance of a scorpion`s claw and grinned. "We are!" he said loudly. "What can I do for you today, Angel?" his tone implied he wasn't pleased to be near her._

_Angel pointed at me. "See that boy? Take Caelum and kill him!"_

_He looked at me, and then back at Angel. "You want me to kill a kid? That's pathetic! I wouldn't mind killing you, but I'm not killing a child. That's an insult to my talent! If you don't mind, I have a date with my girlfriend, Aquarius, so you better not summon me again today!" And with that, Scorpio went back to the spirit world._

_I almost laughed. "Guess you're spirits aren't as loyal as you thought!"_

_Angel grumbled and pulled out another gold key. "Open! Gate of the Twins! Gemini!" Karen's next spirit was… well, actually it was two spirits! They are both small, blue alien-like creatures. They both had small beady eyes with white pupils and both had two black hairs sticking out of their heads and wore shorts and a sash running over their shoulders, but one spirit's shorts were black and the other's was orange. One had a "v" shaped mouth and the other's mouth was shaped like "^". The two spirits did a cute pose together._

"_Gemi, Mini, transform into me, take Caelum and then attack that boy!" Angel ordered. She seemed to be getting frustrated by the fact that I was getting the better of her and her spirits weren't being helpful._

_The two spirits put their hands together and a puff of smoke engulfed them. After the smoke cleared, standing before me were two Angels!_

"_What the heck!? Am I seeing double or something?" I asked, rubbing my eyes to make sure I was seeing clearly._

_Angel laughed. "Nope! My spirits Gemi and Mini, or Gemini, can transform into anyone that they've touched before. Not only can they copy the opponent's appearance, but they can also copy that person's thoughts as well. Now go! Destroy that boy and don't leave a trace of him behind!" _

_Gemini sighed drearily. "As you wish, master…" The Angel-copy took hold of Caelum's handle and started running towards me. I blocked the attack that it used using my dual swords. _

_I glared into Gemini's eyes, but I saw that they were starting to spill tears. "I'm so sorry… none of us wanted to kill...Me, Caelum, Scorpio… none of us wants it… It's all Angel's idea…" she whispered, as to not arouse attention from Angel. "Angel said that if we don't do what she says then… she'd summon all of us into the human world, and… she'd break all of our keys!"_

_I couldn't believe what I was hearing. "But… without your keys, you'd all be stuck here in the real world…" I whispered back. "And then you'd all die…"_

_That was the last straw. I threw away Gemini and Caelum and dispelled my swords. "Angel… You're a monster…" I said in a menacing tone. "You were worse than Karen ever was… at least she had the courage to admit that what she was doing with her spirits was wrong…" I slowly raised my right hand and pointed my index finger past Gemini and Caelum and at Angel. My magical energy was starting to accumulate and was overflowing outside of my body. _

"_And now… You are going to pay!" I screamed loudly as five, large Star magic circles appeared in front of me. I used my index finger to touch one of the circles, and then I drew a line in the air with magic, connecting it to the next, and so on until the lines formed the shape of a star. I held my hands forward with one palm over the other. "Ultimate Star Dragon Magic! FIVE STAR TWILIGHT ATTACK!" A large beam of light and magic was fired from my palms, through the Star Magic circles and intensified in power. The beam shot directly around Gemini and Caelum, not even coming close to them, and hit Angel dead on. She screamed so loudly in pain that it could have broken a sound barrier, but I didn't care if her whole body disintegrated, she had to pay for her crimes!_

_After the blast subsided, I looked at what had happened to Angel because of it. I saw her lying down on the ground, unconscious and her clothes were torn to shreds, but she was alive._

_I suddenly felt the loss of all my magic that was used in my attack and I too collapsed on the ground. After that, I blacked out._

***Flashback ends* (Normal POV)**

"When I woke up I was in a magic council tent. They told me that I did a good job taking care of Angel. She was supposedly a hunter of Celestial wizards and on the council's top priorities for arrest list. They decided to give me all of her keys, since a spirit's contract is broken when the wizard is either arrested or dies… and then I remembered what had happened to Karen…" Starr explain, tears spilling down his face like a waterfall. "When they recovered Karen's dead body, they gave me her keys, too. I only kept Aries key though, and I told them to send Leo's key back to the Blue Pegasus guild. I wanted something to remind me of Karen, but I knew Leo cared for Karen and he wouldn't accept another owner for a long time… especially not one that couldn't protect her…"

That moment was when Starr couldn't handle the tears anymore and he exploded into a fit of bawling. Lucy and Gray had trouble controlling their emotions as well, Happy had a saddened expression but he was rubbing Natsu's back in order to calm the nausea.

"I-I'm so sorry, Lucy! I-I sh-should have told you, the minute I found out you knew Karen! It just… It hurts so much to talk about it! I couldn't, even face M-Master Bob after that day! He-He trusted me to take care of Karen, and I couldn't do it! I just couldn't-" Starr was cut off by Lucy smacking him across the cheek, very loudly.

"Starr…" she said. Her bangs were covering her eyes. "You were only 11 years old… It was a big thing to take on, and you did it just fine… you just didn't know that Angel was there… It's not your fault that Karen was killed!" She lifted her head to reveal that she too was crying. "You couldn't possibly have known that Angel was hiding on that cliff, waiting for you and Karen to let your guard down… You should be proud that you got her to release Aries' contract… It's not your fault, Starr!" Lucy stood up and wrapped her arms around Starr's neck, pulling him in for a deep embrace. "It's not your fault…"

"She's right, Starr, it wasn't your fault…" a deep voice spoke beside them. Everyone other than Natsu turned their heads and they were shocked to see the Lion spirit, Leo, or Loke as he preferred now, standing before them, a happy expression on his face. "You got Karen to void Aries' contract… something I spent three months in the human world trying to do… I couldn't be happier right now…" And as if on cue, Loki began crying as well.

"Loki… how long have you been here?" Lucy asked.

"Since you boarded the train, I've been listening to you from the beginning…" Loke knelt down and looked Starr in the eye. "I can't thank you enough for freeing Aries, Starr"

Starr sniffled. "But… you were banned from the spirit world for three years… because I let Karen die…"

Loke shook his head. "That was my decision, I wasn't there to protect her when she needed me most, and that's why I was banned… what you did… you taught Karen the very thing I couldn't…"

"Alright, I've had enough of these tears! So somebody better start smiling before I freeze everyone's tears to their faces!" Gray suddenly shouted, even though he was on the brink of tears.

Everyone looked at Gray, shocked. Then, Loke and Lucy cracked a smile, and then started to laugh. Starr was still frowning, but then his face was started to light up with joy. His frown turned into a smile, then into a happy laugh. His cheeks were as red as his eyes from all the crying, and his laugh was as pure and innocent as a young child.

"I think… I think I've finally found a place where I belong…" he said, crying his last tears, not of sorrow, but of joy.


	4. The downfall of Jude Heartfilia

It's been a week since Starr had joined Fairy Tail, and his excitement was just barely beginning to die down. He had taken small jobs around the town and off in other towns a short distance from Magnolia with Natsu, Lucy and/or Gray every day, sometimes twice a day, since the Hydra incident. Even Erza had joined them on one or two of their jobs. It was safe to say that Starr was part of Team Natsu. Currently, Starr was gazing upon the request board while Natsu, Happy, Lucy and Gray were sitting around the bar, eating and talking to Mirajane and Cana.

"Man, that kid has more energy than anyone else in the guild combined!" Cana stated, guzzling her usual barrel of alcohol. She looked over at Mirajane. "How many jobs has he taken since he's joined Fairy Tail, Mira?"

Mirajane thought for a moment. "I think… 11 jobs, in total. Though he's only taking on low ranking ones until he gets the hang of things"

Gray nodded in agreement. "On most of the jobs we've done, he's done most of the work. And no matter what he splits the reward evenly with us. He even did it when we went to Mt. Hakobe to take down those Vulcans. I didn't even do anything, he beat the crap out of those things, and he still split the money with me"

Lucy gave Natsu a slight smirk. "And _Starr_ can do it _without_ destroying half a town…" she said to the Fire Dragon slayer.

Natsu blushed and looked away. "One time, and you were on that job too…" he mumbled, embarrassed. Suddenly, a look of curiosity overcame Natsu. "Hey, I just had a thought…"

Everyone gasped. "Quick! Somebody document this! Natsu's brain actually works!" Gray joked… although he sounded frighteningly serious.

Natsu glared at the Ice Mage. "Anyway… where has Starr been living? He's only 14, and there's no way that anyone would let a 14 year old rent a house"

"Actually, Natsu, Starr's been living in my house" Lucy spoke up. "He's too young to rent a place by himself, so I offered to let him stay with us after we beat that Hydra. He promised that he'd pay half the rent, and I let him live at my place. So not only am I doing a good thing, but now I don't have to worry about rent so much!"

Mirajane smiled proudly at the blonde girl. "Wow, Lucy, that's a really nice thing of you to do, I'm impressed!"

Cana smirked. "Just keep him out of your underwear drawer…" she chuckled, softly.

Gray and Natsu turned bright red. The memory of that drawer was still fresh in their minds from the day that they discovered that Lucy went home to confront her father, since he was the one behind Phantom Lord's attack on Fairy Tail. The two boys fell back from their chairs and hit the floor.

Gajeel and Juvia chose that moment to show up. "Care to explain why these guys are on the floor like a couple of idiots?" The Iron dragon slayer asked, gnawing on a large chunk of metal.

"Don't ask…" the boys replied as they returned to their seats.

"You guys might want to take a look at the job that Starr is looking at, especially you Lucy…" Juvia said, looking very concerned.

Lucy raised an eyebrow. "Why me?"

Meanwhile, Starr stood at the request board, holding a sheet of paper. His hands were trembling and his face was emotionless. "I don't believe it…" he said softly.

Lucy and the others arrived at the request board and looked worriedly at their friend. "Starr? What's wrong?"

Starr gave Lucy a worried expression. "…Lucy… look at this…"

Starr slowly turned around and handed Lucy the sheet. She took the paper from Starr's shaking hands and her heat skipped a beat when she saw what it was..."

"Wanted: Lucy Heartfilia… I want my daughter delivered back to the Heartfilia estate as soon as possible. I don't care how you do it, as long as I get my precious daughter back from the thieves who stole her from me, the Fairy Tail Guild! Reward: Name it! Anything you want is yours, money is no object!" Lucy read from the flier, her eyes filled with anger and sadness.

Everyone in the guild fell silent as they were trying to process the request. Lucy's father, the man who hired Phantom Lord to destroy Fairy Tail and recover Lucy for him, only to fail, was doing the exact same thing he did before. He's trying to get everyone in the Magic Guilds to capture Lucy and bring her back to him for a reward…

"Lucy… you said that your dad was responsible for destroying the original guild hall… correct?" Starr asked, worriedly.

Lucy nodded. She clenched the flier tighter. "…I thought I told him not to mess with us anymore… apparently he didn't get the message…"

**(Flashback) *Lucy's POV***

"_All the money in the world can't buy you happiness! I figured out that when I was a child!" I yelled. "Finally, I am truly happy, and I'm not going to let you ruin it for me, you hear?!" For the first time, I was standing up for myself to my father, and it felt so good. Every word that left my mouth was for the soul purpose of keeping my friends safe._

"_I'm warning you, you better not mess with Fairy Tail _EVER _again!" I reached into the hem of my dress and pulled it apart completely. I stood before my father, my dress ripped to shreds and only the undershirt remained. I didn't feel any regret in the words that I was saying to him, especially these. "It doesn't matter if you're my father… If you threaten us, we will crush you just like any other enemy!" I screamed. _

***Flashback* (Normal POV)**

Lucy took a deep sigh and sat down. "I don't get it… I couldn't have been anymore straight forward with him… I don't need to go back to that house, nor do I want to…"

Natsu and Gray each held up a fist, surrounded by energy of their element. "Well now we'll have to _pound _the message into him!" said Gray.

"Yeah!" Natsu exclaimed. "He out of all people should know that messing with Fairy Tail is the biggest mistake anyone can make! And that goes double for anyone that messes with _members_ of Fairy Tail, especially Lucy!"

Starr placed a hand on Lucy's shoulder. "Don't worry, Lucy, no one will make you go back to that place, and we'll stop anyone that tries" he said.

Lucy looked up at him and smiled. "Thanks, Starr…"

Suddenly, there was a loud rumbling combing from outside the Guild Hall. Everyone ran out the door to see what had happened, and were shocked to find that three large blast craters on the Guild's surface.

"What the hell?!" Natsu screamed. "Who did this?! I'll cook him to a crisp!"

The group of wizards were soon confronted by a small platoon of the Rune Knights from the Magic Council. "I am Commander Lahar of the Magic Council's Rune Knights! We have come for Ms. Lucy Heartfilia, and to shut down your guild, effective immediately!" the leader of the platoon announced.

"_WHAT?!_" practically everyone screamed.

Master Makarov stood before the group with a displease look on his face. "Under what grounds do you have a right to shut down our guild?! We haven't done anything against the law!"

"Well according to Mr. Heartfilia, you have. He reported to the magic council that your guild members have kidnapped his daughter and turned her into one of you, and he's paying an extraordinary amount of money to have her returned"

Lucy suddenly became filled with fear. _'He went and got the Rune Knights involved? …How could he do this to me? To us?' _she thought.

"That's preposterous! Lucy came to us as a runaway and she joined us of her own free will!" Erza exclaimed.

"Yeah!" Starr followed. "Lucy's father only wants her back so he can force her to marry some other Heir to another wealthy family! Lucy hated living in that house and she swore that after she last talked to her father she would never set foot in that house again!"

Lahar huffed. "Look kid, Mr. Heartfilia gave us strict orders not to believe anything that you say, so go play somewhere while we escort Ms. Lucy to the Heartfilia Estate"

Starr glared at the commander and raised a hand towards Lucy. "Fine… but I won't let you take Lucy!" He used his index finger and middle finger to draw a star in the air and pressed his palm against it. "Star Dragon Magic! Transport!"

In the blink of an eye, before anyone could even respond, a puff of smoke appeared around Lucy and when it cleared, Lucy was gone.

The commander glared at Starr. "What have you done, you little brat?!"

Star grinned. "I used my magic to teleport Lucy away from here. Only I know Lucy's location, and I'm not telling you!"

The commander's eyes twitched. "Why I ought'a…"

"Do what? You're not even sure if what Lucy's father told you is true, are you? You haven't even asked us our side of the story! Look, we'll prove to you that Lucy's father lied to you and framed us for kidnapping her. Just give me one day and I'll have proof for you!"

The commander growled. "Fine… you have until the end of the day tomorrow, that's when we'll come to your guild hall and demolish it. But until then, no one is allowed to take on the requests and you're guild hall is temporarily shut down" he turned towards the army fleet. "Men, fall back!"

"YES SIR!" they all replied and began marching away from the guild hall, all except for the commander.

"One more thing…" he raised his palm and fires a magical blast towards the Guild hall. It almost made contact, but a large, star-shaped mirror appeared and reflected the attack back at him. When the smoke from the reflected attack cleared, Lahar looked back at the Star Dragon Slayer, who had an ominous look in his eye and his palm was raised towards where the mirror appeared.

"Not likely…" he said.

The commander groaned and began following his troop.

Once the Rune Knights were out of sights, everyone looked at the blast craters in despair. Their newly rejuvenated Guild hall was struck once again. It wasn't nearly as bad as last time, but it was still pretty bad. Though the structure itself was stable, most of the outside was completely blown away, and the Fairy Tail flags and sign were charred so that they were unidentifiable.

"Ugh! We just finished rebuilding!" Erza groaned. "Are the Magic Council even allowed to do that?"

Master Makarov sighed. "I'm not sure, but I do know that Lahar isn't exactly fond of our guild…" he said sadly. Everyone looked curiously at the master. "Commander Lahar has never liked Fairy Tail because we don't follow the Magic Council's rules when doing jobs…"

Starr raised his fist up in the air. "Well I'm not going to let them have the last laugh for doing this to our guild… Everyone, stand back!" he ordered and ran in front of the guild. Everyone complied and took a few steps back.

Starr placed both his palms on the wall of the Guild Hall. A magic circle appeared under them. Starr took a few deep breaths before the circle began to glow. "Star Dragon Magic! Arc of Time: Rewind!"

The guild hall slowly began to rumble. The building began to recover all of the damage that was dealt to it. The walls were slowly beginning to grow back into place, and the flags were being recreated just as they were before. Starr struggled to keep up his magic, but before long, the Guild Hall was looking just as good as ever. Starr panted slightly and stepped to admire his handiwork. He suddenly felt extremely tired and the Star Dragon Slayer collapsed on the ground.

Gray ran to pick him up. As he picked the boy up, the ice mage smiled at the young boy in his arms, who was snoring softly and cutely, impressed beyond belief. "Nice work, Starr"

"STARR!" A loud, familiar voice screamed from behind them. All the wizards turned around and saw a soaking wet, not to mention angry, Lucy storming up to the younger blonde. "How could you dump me into the Fairy Tail SWIMMING POOL!? I'M SOAKING…" Lucy ceased her yelling long enough to notice that Starr was passed out in Gray's arms. "What happened to Starr? Did the Rune Knights attack him?" she asked, worriedly.

Natsu shook his head. "Nope, he used his magic to fix the Guild Hall and then he passed out when he was done"

Master Makarov gave out a loud cough, grabbing everyone's attention. "Everyone, back inside before the citizens start to get suspicious of all the commotion. Gray, take Starr into the infirmary, would you? And Mirajane, get a star fruit from the kitchen and bring it up to Starr"

Mirajane and Gray nodded. "Right away, master"

Gray carried Starr into the Guild's infirmary, and was closely followed by Natsu, Lucy, Erza, Juvia, Gajeel and Happy. He gently laid Starr on one of the provided beds and all of them took a seat around it.

It didn't take long for Mirajane to arrive in the infirmary with a plate of cut star fruit in her hands. She placed the plate on the side table next to the bed. "There you go, that should do the trick"

Gray nodded. "Thanks, Mira…" Gray took one of the pieces of fruit from the plate, then leaned over, close to Starr and held it up in front of his mouth. "Open up, Starr, you'll feel better if you eat this" he said in a calming voice.

Starr, though still unconscious, opened his mouth wide enough for Gray to stick part of the star fruit inside. Starr bit down on the fruit and then chewed and swallowed it. Everyone watched as Starr's eyes fluttered open.

Starr sat up and yawned loudly. He rubbed the sleepiness out of his eyes using his hand. "What happened?" he asked. He then took notice of the ice mage sitting very close next to him and his cheeks began to turn pink.

Natsu was the first to speak up. "Well, you used your magic to send the Rune Knights running with their tails between their legs after they came to the Guild Hall and started attacking it"

"Then, you used your magic to repair the damage done by the Rune Knights. After that, you passed out and we brought you here" Gray explained. He handed Starr the rest of the star fruit and stood up from the bed.

"Oh, right, the Arc of Time…" Starr took another piece of star fruit and ate it. "Yeah, that spell is a type of magic that requires a lot of magic, even for something small. To fix something as big as the guild hall, it's basically takes the same amount of magic as it does to open five Zodiac Gates at once"

Lucy's jaw dropped like a rock. "FIVE ZODIAC GATES!?" she screamed loudly. "I DIDN'T EVEN THINK IT WAS POSSIBLE TO HAVE THAT MUCH MAGIC!"

Starr nodded and ate another piece of star fruit. "Yeah, that's exactly the point. I don't like to use the Arc of Time unless it's for something really important… like the guild hall…" Starr's cheeks grew redder. He looked down at the plate in his lap and smiled. "Even though I've only been here for a week… I love Fairy Tail, and everyone in it… and I won't let anyone do anything to hurt the Guild or its members"

Everyone smiled warmly at the Starr Dragon slayer. They all had the same thought.

'_He's definitely a Fairy Tail wizard alright…'_

"Aw, well isn't that just precious…" an all too familiar voice said sarcastically behind them. Everyone turned around and frowned when they saw Laxus standing there at the door frame.

Starr glared at Laxus, annoyed by his very presence. "And then there's you, Laxus, you I'm not so fond of…"

Laxus smirked. "The feeling's mutual…"

"What are you even doing here, Laxus? And where were you when the Rune Knights came?" Gray asked.

Laxus shrugged. "I was watching from a few blocks away… not caring… and then I heard a little something about a ridiculously high reward for turning the rich runaway princess into her daddy" He quickly grabbed Lucy's arm and pulled her close to her.

Everyone's eyes widened and then filled with rage, other than Lucy's, who filled with fear.

Erza requiped a sword and pointed it at Laxus. "Laxus! You would be a fool to even think of turning Lucy into her father!" she yelled.

Everyone took an offensive stance, ready to attack. "And you'd have to be an even bigger fool to think we'd let you do it without a fight!" Natsu yelled.

Laxus laughed maniacally. "Relax, don't get your panties in a twist. I'm only joking around, lighten up would ya!"

Starr stood up from the bed. "Does it look like we're laughing?"

Laxus huffed and threw Lucy to the ground. "Fine, you bunch of kill-joys, I don't need the cash anyway. I'm out of here… And just so we're clear, I could have easily taken you all on!" Laxus transformed into lightning and disappeared from the guild hall. Everyone groaned in annoyance.

Juvia helped Lucy back to her feet. "Thanks, Juvia"

Juvia smiled. "Anytime…"

"Man that guy bugs me…" Starr mumbled loudly. "He's the one person that I can't stand here, Mr. High-and-Mighty…"

"Someone _really _needs to take him down a peg…" Gajeel stated.

Suddenly, Laxus rematerialized right back in the room again, standing right next to Erza. "I almost forgot…" Then without warning he kissed Erza on the cheek. Everyone's jaws dropped at the sight they were witnessing.

When Laxus pulled away, Erza got a look in her eyes that would make a grown man cower in fear. "DAMN YOOOOOOOUUUUU!" She swung the sword in her hand violently at Laxus, but they were all in vein because he disappeared once again.

Erza breathed heavily and dispelled her sword. She growled ferociously and took to her knees. "I'm going to murder him…" she said quietly, though still just as angrily as ever.

"No one's going to stop you, Erza" Gray said, waving his hand as if saying 'go for it'.

Starr took a deep breath and exhaled. "Look, we'll deal with Laxus later, right now we have to focus on what we're going to do about Lucy's dad and how he's trying to take her back by force again"

Everyone relaxed and nodded.

Natsu held up a flaming fist. "I say we pound the crap out of him now and ask questions later!"

"No, wait, Natsu, no one needs to pound anyone… at least not yet… I think I have better idea on how we can get back at him, and get the Rune Knights off our tail all in one go…" Starr stated, a devilish smirk growing wider on his face.

Lucy looked down at Starr and smiled confidently. "I don't know what that smirk is about, but something tells me that you have a dastardly scheme in mind… and I'm already going to like it"

Starr chuckled and pulled out a Gold Spirit key. "It all starts with this…"

The next day, Starr stood outside the Heartfilia Estate, towing a large cage with an unconscious and beaten up Lucy, whose clothes were in tatters. His eyes were narrow and soulless. He walked through the gates of the estate, ignoring the looks of sorrow and fear that he was receiving from the maids and other workers for the Heartfilia family.

Starr dropped the rope he was using to tow the cage and looked directly up at the substantially large house. "YO! I GOT LUCY HEARTFILIA! WHERE'S THE GUY NAMED JUDE WHO REQUESTED THAT JOB?!" the blonde yelled angrily.

None of the workers responded, but they did their best to hide from him. Only one of Lucy's old servants, Ms. Sapeto, remained. Starr pulled the woman up by her uniform. "Tell me where I can find the old man! NOW!"

The woman cried in fear. "H-He's in the study on the second floor! Down the hall and the second door to the right! Please don't hurt me!" she screamed.

Starr threw her to the ground and towed the cage into the mansion. He followed Ms. Sapeto's directions and found himself standing in front of Jude Heartfilia's study. He didn't bother knock and he punched the doors down completely. He dragged the cage with Lucy inside the study. He saw that Jude was sitting as his desk signing papers.

Starr held up the rope of the cage. "I have your daughter, Heartfilia!"

Jude stood up from his desk and walked out to stand tall above the blonde boy. "Well, I must say that it's quite a surprise that someone as small as you managed to capture my daughter and brought her back here on your own, but none the less, well done. But if you don't mind my asking, why would you turn in one of your own? Aren't Wizard Guilds supposed to be all about protecting one another?"

"I am protecting the guild, from the Magic Council and the Rune Knights! By giving her up, it'll get them off our backs and I can continue getting cash, doing jobs. And speaking of cash, let's get to the reward so I can leave this place already"

Jude glared down at the boy. "Let me see my daughter move first. I don't entirely trust you wizards…"

Starr groaned. "Fine…" He opened the door to the cage and looked down at Lucy. "Get up!" he yelled.

Lucy woke up and looked fearfully at Starr. "Y-Yes, sir…" Lucy crawled out of the cage and looked up pleadingly at her father. "I'm so sorry, dad, I never should have left you and I shouldn't have said those awful things to you when I was here last! Please take me back!" she had tears coming out of eyes.

Jude smirked. "That's more like it…" he looked over at Starr. "And as for you, what is it that you want for your reward?"

"I want you to admit to the Magic Council, in writing, that you lied about Fairy Tail stealing Lucy and that she came to us of her own free will. Otherwise we'll never get the Magic Council to believe us"

"Fine, I see no further reason to keep up this charade…" Jude stepped behind his desk and pulled out a sheet of paper and began writing on it. "Dear, Magic Council… I, Jude Heartfilia, withdraw my previous accusations about the Wizards' Guild, Fairy Tail. They were telling the truth when they said the my daughter, Lucy became a member of her own desire..." He said as he wrote was he was saying.

Once he finished, he handed the paper to Starr. He gave it the once over and placed it in his pocket. "Thank you"

"My pleasure, now please leave me alone, I have to contact the Gennell Family and tell them that Lucy _will_ be marrying Duke Sward…"

Starr smiled. "Alright, but first, I think Lucy has something that she has to tell you…" he looked over at Lucy and nodded.

"Father, I think I should tell you that you are… such an old fool!" Lucy grinned. She stood up from the ground, her wounds and clothes suddenly healing themselves.

Jude glared at Lucy. "I beg your pardon?" he asked, his eye starting to twitch.

Starr smirked. "I'd like to introduce to you my Celestial spirits, Gemi and Mini, or Gemini as they're called together. When they're together they have the power to transform into anyone that they've touched and, in case you haven't figured out yet, they've touched Lucy"

Lucy- or rather Gemini, suddenly began to radiate a pink aura. **"Father, if you honestly think I'm going to let you take me back to that prison, then you're dead wrong!"**

"Why are you still saying 'Father'? I know you're not my daughter, Spirit!" Jude yelled.

"Actually…" Starr interrupted. "That is Lucy… in a way. Before I left, I gave Lucy a Mimic Mic. so she could talk to you without being here in person…"

**(Flashback) *Normal POV***

"_Here Lucy, take this" Starr said, handing her an item that looked like a microphone with a blue and yelled stripped handle and a star logo just below the receiver end._

_Lucy held it in her hands with a confused look on her face. "What is this?" she asked._

"_It's called a Mimic Mic., it lets you say something into it and another person will say what you say. It's synced with Gemini so they'll say whatever you say when I get inside, and I'll use Telepathy Magic to let you listen to what we're saying."_

_Lucy stared at the device in her hands with excitement. "Wow! I can yell at my father through my voice, my words and I still won't have to see him! Thanks Starr!"_

**(Flashback) *Normal POV***

"So now, I'll take a step back and let Lucy say what she has to say" Starr stepped to the side and allowed Gemini to stand up in front of Jude.

'Lucy' smiled.** "Thanks, Starr… Now I think it's about time I get you to pay for what you've done to me and my Guild!"** Gemini took hold on Jude's shirt collar and glared into his eyes. **"What do I have to do to get you off my back?! I told you last time I was there, I don't want to go back there and nothing you do will make me!"**

Starr watched as a bead of sweat rolled down Jude's face. "But, I'm just a loving fa-"

"**Don't EVEN go there!"** 'Lucy' cut him off and pulled him up and over his deck. **"You don't love me! You never did! You haven't even cared enough to remember my birthday since mom died! If you did, you would have come after me the day that I left! All you want of me now is to marry that preppy heir so that you can extend the railway business and make more money! Not like you need that you need it, anyway!"**

Jude scowled. "Lucy Heartfilia, I'm your father and you will talk to me as such!"

Gemini's grip grew tighter. **"NO! You are NOT my father! A father respects the wishes of his daughter! A father doesn't put up a wanted poster of his daughter for the Magic Council! And a father CERTIANLY doesn't send an entire platoon of Rune Knights to shut down her daughter's Wizard Guild under false pretenses! After this experience you've lost the last bit of respect I had for you and replaced it with hate! So I'm done talking to you and if you even try to take me back by force again I will personally deal away with you myself! Goodbye… Jude Heartfilia" **Gemini turned towards Starr. **"Starr, you can do what you want with him, I don't care…"**

The pink aura surrounding Gemini dispersed and it threw Jude to the ground. Gemini transformed back into its spirit forms and then flew back over to Starr.

Starr smiled, proudly and pulled out Gemini's key. "You guys were awesome, thanks for the help. Close! Gate of the Twins!" Gemini saluted and disappeared back into the spirit world.

Once the twin spirits were gone, Starr requiped a giant, blue mallet with a star logo on the side, and changed into his Crashing Star power armor. He had a devilish look on his face that would put Phantom Lord's Jose to shame. "You mess with Lucy, or anyone else in Fairy Tail, you mess with me. And I don't like being messed with…"

Jude began sweating bullets and he backed into a corner. Starr walked slowly towards Jude. "No… No… NO!"

After dealing with Jude, Starr walked outside, into the gardens, where the maids and servants were still quaking in fear. Starr gave them all a warm smile and walked up to them. "I'm sorry that I was so rude to you all" he said sincerely. Everyone stopped shaking in fear and looked curiously at the blonde. "It was all part of my plan to make sure that Jude believed I brought Lucy here. I'm sorry that I scared you, but I can assure you, Lucy is safe now and Jude won't be going anywhere for a long, long time…"

Ms. Sapeto walked cautiously up the Starr. "Did you… kill Master Heartfilia?" she asked nervously.

Starr blinked innocently. "Of course not. I would never kill a human… no matter how much they deserve it… I just used a mallet to pound him into the floor of his study, he literally won't be going anywhere for a long time"

Meanwhile, up in the study, Jude's body was drove through the floor up to his shoulders, rendering him unable to move, and he had several red bumps on his head. His jaw was wide open and his eyes were lifeless…

Everyone had a look of relief, yet disappointment on their faces. "Well, we best pry him out of there…"

Starr laughed. "Well, I'll be going now, I'll tell Lucy you all said 'Hi'" Starr waved goodbye to everyone and left the Heartfilia estate.

Once Starr arrived back in Magnolia, he marched up to the Rune Knights and showed them the letter he got from Jude. They instantly apologized and retreated back to Era, though Commander Lahar took a bit of convincing from the other knights.

The next stop Starr had to make was the Guild hall. When he arrived, he was hounded by practically everyone in Fairy Tail.

"So what happened?"

"Is the Guild going to be ok?"

"Are we getting kicked to the curb?"

All these questions and more were addressed to Starr. The blonde smiled and raised his index finger in air. "Fairy Tail is here to stay!"

Everyone matched Starr's smile and cheered as loud as they possibly could. They grabbed Starr and started throwing him in the air, repeatedly, and chanting his name over and over again.

This went on for quite a while until everyone got the excitement out of their systems and let Starr stand again. The boy dizzily took a seat at one of the tables. He was soon approached by the gang, who all took a seat beside and around him.

"I take it the job went off without any problems?" Cana asked.

Starr shook the remaining dizziness from his head and nodded. "Yep, Jude won't be bothering us ever aga-huh?" he stopped when he felt Lucy's arms wrap around him and pull him into a hard embrace.

"Thank you so much, Starr…" Lucy wept softly. She had tears running down her cheeks and onto his vest. "I don't think I'd ever have the courage to stand up to him again without your help… it felt so hard talking to him the first time face to face… I don't know how I could ever repay you…"

"You could… let… go… of me…" he replied, gasping for air.

Lucy quickly let go of him and took her seat once again. "Sorry, I'm just so happy that you managed to convince my father to leave Fairy Tail alone for good…" She wiped away the tears in her eyes and smiled down at the Star Dragon Slayer.

Gray sighed. "Yeah, putting up with his antics was enough to deal with the first time. I didn't want to have to have _another _Guild War…" Everyone turned to him and their jaws dropped like flies. Gray's stripping habits had overcome him once again…

"GRAY! PUT YOUR CLOTHES ON!" They all screamed.

Gray blushed and quickly dressed himself again. Everyone sighed in relief.

"Gray, you have got to stop with that stripping habit! We have a minor with us now so you have to control your urges even harder now!" Erza shouted.

Gray shrugged and leaned back against his chair, a bored expression on his face. "I don't see the big deal, Starr's a guy, so it's not like it should matter or anything. Right, Starr?"

Lucy gestured to the now passed out boy on the floor with blood running out of his nose and his soul floating out of his mouth into the air. He also had a pink streak running across his cheeks. Juvia just happened to be on the floor in the same position as him. Happy quickly took both of their souls and shoved them back into their body. Lucy then turned back to gray and gave him a displeased look. "You were saying, Gray?"

1240Gray's eye twitched. "Natsu, do you have any of that super glue left from when you tried to glue my clothes to my body a few months ago?" he asked, not even bothering to look away.

Natsu snickered at the memories of Gray dousing himself with glue remover after finding out about his prank. "Yeah, why?"

"…get it, and do that again tomorrow…"

Everyone, other than the two passed out in the floor, chuckled lightly.

Suddenly, Natsu noticed something. "Hey, has anyone seen Erza?"

Cana pointed slowly to the far corner of the room, where Erza was sharpening her swords one at a time on a spinning whetstone, already at least a dozen already-sharpened swords in a pile next to her, with an evil look in her eyes. "Must kill Laxus… Must make Laxus suffer… Must decapitate Laxus… Must boil my face in hot water to remove his DNA from my cheek…" she mumbled to herself and started to sharpen at a faster rate.

The group of wizards watched fearfully as Erza's sharpening became faster and created many hot sparks.

"Anyone think we should take Starr back to my house and not come back until Erza calms down?" Lucy asked. Everyone nodded slowly and bolted out of the Guild Hall as fast as humanly possible, leaving the Guild only occupied by Erza and her swords.

**-x~X~x-**

**Hey, sorry for such an rushed ending. I can't really think of anything else to end it with other than with my character having a nosebleed and passing out after seeing Gray strip again. But, if you enjoyed it, you'll be pleased with the next chapter that should be up soon. Anyway, I hope you all are enjoying the story so far, and especially the 'Laxus kissing Erza' moment for all you Laxus/Erza fans, but you should know that that's just for comedic humor. See you next time everyone!**


	5. Laxus, you sick maniacal monster!

**Hey guys, Digidestined Dude 15 here. I absolutely love the latest chapter, mainly became it's so fluffy I practically squealed the entire time writing it. I hope you like my Gray x Starr chapter!**

**-x~X~x-**

It's been a month since the incident with Jude Heartfilia and the Rune Knights, and everyone was going back to their normal routines… although there was one exception. Everyone in the Guild was discussing the upcoming Fantasia Parade that was scheduled to be held in exactly one months' time. Natsu and the rest of the gang were discussing their different variations of the floats they planned to showcase.

"My float is going to have a giant dragon that shoots fire, and it's going to spell "Fairy Tail!" in the air in flames!" Natsu exclaimed excitedly.

Gray grinned. "Well, me and Juvia are going to work on an ice palace-themed float where the whole thing is water and ice! Isn't that right Juvia?"

Juvia nodded, hearts replacing her eyes. "Yes my beloved!"

Gajeel scuffed. "I don't give a crap what you do, I have no interest in participating in joining you in this parade or whatever it is"

Starr raised his hand. "Uh, can someone explain to me what the Fantasia Parade actually _is_? I'm kind of lost here…"

Lucy nodded in agreement. "Yeah, same. I've heard everyone talking about it, but no one's told us what it is" said Lucy.

Cana coughed to get the others' attention. "The Fantasia Parade is an event that's held every year during the Magnolia Harvest Festival. All the members of Fairy Tail join in and they make and ride their own floats and perform on them with their magic. It's a tradition that's been held ever since the Fairy Tail Guild was established" she explained.

"And also, there's a Miss Fairy Tail Beauty Contest where all the girls showcase their magic and beauty and the winner gets 500,000 jewels" Levy further explained. "Erza won it last year, and Mira won it the year before that. Every year's contest had a different winner, although Evergreen's won it the most times out of anyone…"

Starr blinked and tilted his head to the side. "Whose Evergreen?" he asked, confused.

Everyone suddenly became somewhat depressed and glanced off in different directions, away from Starr.

"Evergreen is one of Laxus' bodyguards…" Gray stated. "She, along with her partners, Bickslow and Freed, make up the Thunder Legion. Those guys do anything that Laxus tells them, and no one has ever gotten the better of any of them. They're probably the strongest team in Fairy Tail…"

Natsu punched the table, furiously. "No way! That title belongs to me, Lucy, Erza, Gray and Starr's team! Laxus and his wannabes don't have anything over us!" he yelled. He jumped back with an 'eep!' when he and the others witnessed the table being cut in half before anyone could say a thing. The group of wizards looked in the direction of the cut and saw that it had been cut by Erza's sword. She had an enraged look in her eyes.

"NEVER mention that man's name in my presence…" she muttered, loud enough that everyone heard her.

Starr gulped and sweat dropped. "I take it Erza isn't over the whole, uh… 'Kiss' thing- AH!" He quickly ducked, as to avoid making contact with Erza's sword. He backed away into a wall and looked up pleadingly at Erza. She sent him a glare that sent shivers down his spine.

The requip mage held her sword not an inch away from his face. "Never speak of it again!" she yelled.

Starr turned pale and nodded quickly. "Yes ma'am!"

Erza pulled away her sword and allowed Starr to rise to his feet. The boy ran behind the nearest person he saw, which happened to be Gray, and clung fearfully to his shirt. Gray could hear a slight whimpering coming from Starr and starred at Erza with a displeased look.

"Erza, you need to chill out! I know you're upset about La-" He stopped dead in his tracks at the glare Erza was giving him. "I mean, upset about "_you know who_" doing "_you know what_" but you need to get a grip! It's nothing that you should be attacking Starr or anyone else over, especially since he's only a kid! And if you're scaring a kid, well then you're no better than him! So take a deep breath and relax!"

Erza's eyes filled with guilt and she dispelled her sword. She took a deep breath and then exhaled. She walked up to the quivering Starr and knelt down to his height. "I'm so sorry, Starr… I guess I just got a little worked up there…"

Starr looked up from Gray's shirt and sniffled, adding in a warm smile. "It's alright, Erza, I don't blame you for being upset. I would be too if Laxus kissed me…" he chuckled softly, Erza did as well. He had a soft layer of pink on his cheeks.

"Did someone call my name?" a cocky voice asked. Everyone groaned and turned to face Laxus who had once again appeared before them.

"Laxus, not now, Erza and Starr were just having a touching moment!" Lucy stated.

Laxus raised an eyebrow. "Really, is that so? Then why is he clinging to Gray like my lips soon will be to Erza's?" he asked with a smirk. Erza growled at his choice of words.

Starr walked out from behind Gray with a small blush creeping up on his cheeks. "Th-That is none of your business, Laxus! Now I suggest you get out of here and go bug someone else before Erza goes into another rage mode!"

Erza glared daggers into Laxus' eyes, while Laxus gave her a smug look back. "You're so cute when you're mad…" he said teasingly.

The red head growled ferociously. "Well you're about to think I'm downright _adorable_ if you keep it up…"

Laxus laughed. "Actually, I was talking to the pint-sized brat with the big mouth, though you're not far off, honey"

The pink blush on Starr's cheeks grew bolder, but he still had the same annoyed expression on his face. "Y-You think I'm cute…?" he muttered.

"What the hell are you goin' on about, Laxus?" Cana asked forcefully.

Laxus laughed loudly and then smirked. "You really haven't figured it out yet? Blondie over there is a real fairy, in more ways than one…"

Starr's eyes widened in fear. _'Please, no… not _that_! _ANYTHING _but _that_!' _Starr pleaded in his head. His face was just as pleading as his thoughts, though Laxus noticed this and went on.

"A fairy in more ways than one? But that would mean…" Mirajane suddenly became aware of what Laxus was getting at, as did the rest of the group. They all faced Starr with a surprised look in their eyes, while the boy in question had a stream of tears running down his face. He was trying his best not to bawl out and start crying like a young child, though he was doing a poor job at it…

"That's right, Star-boy here's a Fairy-Fag and he's got a wittle crush on Gray…" Laxus further teased.

"Starr… you're-" Natsu started, but he didn't get the chance to finish. Starr had run out of the Guild Hall and flew off in a random direction, away from Fairy Tail. No one could even follow him, they were all frozen by guilt, that and mostly rage towards Laxus, who was laughing as if he won the lottery.

"Oh man! What a crybaby! I wish I could see the look on his face when that scaredy-cat finds out that there's some dark storm clouds coming in soon!" he boasted, laughing even harder.

Everyone gave the lightning mage such an evil glare that even he flinched in fear. Erza didn't waste a second requiping into her Black Wing armor and pointing a sword at Laxus. He stopped laughing for the moment. "We'll deal with you after!" she yelled. She then turned to face the group. "Everyone, split up and look for Starr! I don't care what you do or how you do it, just find him and bring him back to the Guild, then find everyone else that you've found him!"

"And do it before the storm gets here! Starr is terrified of the dark!" Lucy further added.

Everyone nodded and hurried out of the Guild in search of their upset friend.

"Laxus!" Master Makarov shouted at Laxus. "I'd like a word with you!"

The Wizards split up into various groups and searched every square inch of Magnolia, frequently calling out his name, but they had no luck. Starr had practically disappeared from the vary face of the planet and no one knew where to find him.

Lucy and Gray were searching in Magnolia Park and took a second to catch their breath, while Erza and Natsu and Happy searched from the sky. They both took a seat on one of the benches.

"Where in the world are you, Starr?" Lucy asked herself.

"Hey, Lucy, do you think what Laxus said was true? That Starr has a… crush on me?" Gray asked. He clenched one fist with his hand, stressfully. "I mean, I kind of had a feeling that Starr liked boys, given his personality and all, but I _never_ imagined that he liked me…"

Lucy thought for a moment. "Well, he blushed every time you stripped, he dove to you out of everyone else when Erza scared him, and you're the one that he's always asking to go on jobs with, as opposed to the rest of us… so I'd say it's pretty obvious, if you ask me…"

Gray clutched his fist even tighter. "I should have seen it sooner… then Laxus wouldn't have tormented him into running out of the Guild Hall by outing him to the whole guild…"

Lucy placed a hand on Gray's shoulder sympathetically. "Don't worry, we'll find him… and then we'll kill Laxus for starting this whole mess!"

Gray looked at Lucy and nodded.

Suddenly, they both felt a drop of water fall from the sky and hit them on the cheek. They looked up and saw the dark clouds rolling in and covering the whole sky in darkness, shortly followed by a heavy rain. Lucy and Gray stood up from the bench and tried to cover their heads from the rain with their hands.

"Come on, let's keep looking for Starr, he's probably terrified by now…" Gray stated. Lucy nodded.

The sky then filled with a clap of thunder and a bolt of lightning dropped from the sky, miles away from the park, but was still loud and bright enough to make Gray and Lucy flinch. They soon heard a loud cry of terror coming from the bushes behind them, one that sounded vaguely familiar to the mages.

"Was that…?"

"I know it is…"

Lucy and Gray tore through the bushes and they were soon face to face with Starr. His eyes were bright red, evidence that he had been crying since he'd run out of the Guild Hall. He had knees up in a fetal position and held them close to his chest.

"Starr…" Lucy and Gray said quietly at the same time.

Starr sniffled and buried his head in his knees. "Go away… I know you don't want to be seen with a scourge on humanity like me…" he mumbled through his legs.

Lucy looked over at Gray. "Gray, keep Starr out of the rain and talk to him while I go find everyone and tell them we found him"

Gray nodded.

Lucy ran off, back towards the guild, and Gray held out his right fist over his left hand. "Ice Make: Dome!" He placed his hands over each other and a small dome made of ice appeared over the boys, shielding them both from the rain. Gray then took a seat next to Starr and pulled the latter in so that his head was lying down on Gray's shoulder.

"Starr, we don't think any less of you just for liking guys…" Gray said in a sympathetic voice. Starr looked up from his legs and into Gray's eyes, there weren't any emotions of anger or disgust on any level in them what so ever, only sadness and pride. "Starr, you're a member of Fairy Tail, and that's it. No one thinks that if there's something different about someone that they should be ridiculed, not including Laxus of course. If anything, you're more of a Fairy Tail Wizard than ever"

Starr blinked a few times and rubbed away the tears from his eyes. "R-Really?"

Gray smiled and nodded. "Really. Everyone has some weird quirk about them, but we also have qualities that make us who we are. That is what makes us Fairy Tail Wizards. Take me for example, I have excessive stripping habits that I can't control…"

Star chuckled softly and blushed redder. "Yeah, I noticed…"

"But, I can keep those around me safe. And then there's Erza, she can be scary enough to make even the master quake in fear if she's mad…" both boys shuddered at the very thought of an angry Erza. "But underneath all that armor is a heart of gold. And Natsu, he's… well, there's too many things to list what's wrong with him…" Starr laughed a little harder at Gray's joke, "but he's the most supportive person and the greatest friend you could ever want. In fact, that's the same for everyone in Fairy Tail, we're a family and no one wants to see their family upset… come on back to the Guild, Starr, everyone is worried sick about you…"

Starr smiled and nodded. "A-Alright…" Another pink streak ran across his face and he looked down. "But, uh… can I stay like this for a few more minutes…? It's really dark out and I'm still scared…" he asked, referring to the position the two were in.

Gray laughed. "Sure, man, make yourself comfortable…"

Starr wrapped an arm around Gray's waste and cuddled closer to him. He closed his eyes and relaxed his head on Gray's shoulder. Gray didn't make any effort to stop him, and allowed the blonde to fall slowly asleep next to him. He then felt Starr's other arm being draped over his chest and pull him closer to his body, practically begging to get closer.

When Lucy had found everyone, she led them all to Magnolia park, back to where she left Gray to talk to Starr. The rain and lightning had finally stopped and the sun had come out once again.

"Where is he, Lucy?" Natsu asked, impatiently.

Lucy looked around the park. "He should be right… there!" she pointed to the small dome of ice, near the bushes where she'd left Starr and Gray.

Everyone ran up to the ice and noticed that it was too fogged up to see through it. Lucy and Natsu used their hands to wipe away the fog from the ice to see through it, and when they saw what was inside they couldn't help but smile. Gray had Starr perched up on his lap while the latter's head was buried deep into the other's chest. Starr's arms were wrapped around Gray's waste and over his chest, and Gray's arm was pulling Starr closer to him. Gray had taken off his shirt and wrapped it over Starr's body, almost like a blanket. Both boys were asleep. This very sight of them would be enough to make a Shounen-ai fangirl (or fanboy) go insane.

"Wow, I guess Starr's feeling better" Natsu said with a grin.

Everyone nodded… well, other than Juvia, whose face was pressed up against the ice, enviously, glaring daggers at the sleeping blonde.

"Come on, let's let them be until they wake up, Starr deserves it" Cana suggested, trying to pry Juvia away from the ice, along with Levy and Erza.

Everyone agreed and were about to leave them, but they saw someone coming slowly towards them in the distance. When the person was close enough, they saw that it was none other than Laxus, but he looked like he had been on the wrong side of Erza's punching bag. His face and body were beaten badly and his right eye was swollen black. He had an evil look in his eyes that trumped every other dirty look he'd had made since Starr joined Fairy Tail.

"Laxus, what happened to you?" Natsu asked, smirking. "… I'm not concerned, I just want to know so that I can _worship _them for this!"

Laxus trudged closer to the ice. "That brat… THAT BRAT GOT ME KICKED OUT OF FAIRY TAIL!" he screamed.

Everyone was shocked. The Master had kicked Laxus out of the guild, and by the look of him, the Master had _literally_ kicked him out. He was undoubtedly one of the best wizards in the entire guild, despite his attitude, which only made it that much more unbelievable.

"Is that true, Laxus?" Erza asked.

"Hell yeah it's true! The old man kicked me out! I tried to reason with the old bat but he wouldn't listen, so I fought to keep my place as Fairy Tail's best… but he beat the crap out of me! And it's all the kid's fault! If he wasn't such a damn crybaby then everything would be fine!"

"Don't blame Starr because _you're_ an egotistical jerk, Laxus! It's not his fault that you can't keep you're damn mouth shut!" Gajeel shouted.

"Natsu's right! If you had just minded your own business and left Starr alone then none of this would have happened, and you'd still be in Fairy Tail!" Juvia added, now away from the ice and facing Laxus.

Laxus scoffed. "I don't give a damn what you think, just tell me where the brat is! He's going to pay for getting me booted from the Guild!"

Cana took out several of her Magic Cards from her purse and held them up, ready to throw them. "You'll have to get past us to get to Starr, Laxus, and even _you're_ in no shape to fight all of us at once!" Everyone took an offensive stance as well.

"We're tired of your bullying, Laxus, especially towards Starr! You're nothing but a coward, targeting a kid like him!" Alzack stated.

"No one likes you and no one ever did! The only reason you've been a member of Fairy Tail _this_ long is because you're the Master's Grandson!" Bisca added.

"But that's over now, Laxus! We're not scared of you, so take our advice and hit the road!"

Laxus took a step back, a bead of sweat rolling down the side of his face, and scoffed. "Fine! But mark my words, I'll make sure the brat, the old man, and _everyone else_ pays for ticking me off!"

And with that, Laxus turned around to walk away, but not before Natsu came running up shouting "Fire Dragon's Talon!" and kicking Laxus from behind high and far into the air, likely of him to land outside the border of Magnolia.

Suddenly, a smirk made its way onto Natsu's face. "Teach that guy to shove a bolt of lightning down my throat…" He punched the air in victory and screamed happily "Thank god he's finally gone!" as loud as humanly possible. Everyone else cheered as well, but did so quietly so that Gray and Starr didn't wake up.

"I say we throw a 'Good riddance, Laxus!' party back at the Guild, and make Starr the guest of honour!" Lucy suggested. "Starr's been the target of Laxus' bullying the most since he got here, so I say that we make it his party too!"

Everyone cheered in agreement and ran back to the Guild to make preparations for the party, leaving Starr and Gray sound asleep in the ice dome.

Several hours later, Starr was awoken by trickles of water dripping down onto his cheek. His eyes fluttered open and he sat up from where he was lying down, stretching himself and letting out a cute yawn.

"Must've dozed off…" he mumbled. The boy glanced upward when he felt another drop of water fall on the top of his head. The ice dome that Gray had created was half melted and there was a puddle of water by his feet.

"Gray…" Starr then remembered everything that had gone down earlier that day. He suddenly found Gray's shirt draped over his shoulders, glanced over at the half naked Gray sleeping next to him and began to blush.

"I-I better wake him up…" Starr placed a hand on Gray's bare shoulder and started shaking him awake.

Gray moaned slightly before his eyes opened and looked into Starr's. "Hey, Starr, feeling better?" he asked, smiling at the boy.

Starr smiled back and nodded, looking more towards the ground than at Gray's face. "Yeah, I-I am…" he muttered, embarrassedly. The blonde pulled off the shirt and handed it back to Gray. "Thanks, for, um… talking with me…"

Gray took his shirt back and put it on. He then pulled Starr in for a warm embrace, one of which Starr was unprepared for. "Starr, you don't need to be embarrassed about this… There are a lot of people just like you, but they deal with it, and that's what you should be doing…" Starr felt tears begin to swell up in his eyes once again. "And just for the record, if I liked guys, you'd be my first choice… ya know, in about 5 years when you're at minimal legal age and everything…"

This time, Starr didn't hold back any tears. He let them all escape his eyes with such a force that is he didn't know any better, Gray would have assumed there was a hose shooting water down his back. Starr clutched Gray tightly and pulled him in closer. Gray gave the boy a small smile from behind and started to rub his back in a soothing motion, as an attempt to calm him down.


	6. Laxus' revenge

After Starr had calmed down from his crying fit, he and Gray made their way back to the Guild Hall to let the others know that he was ok. When they got there, they noticed that the lights were out. Immediately, Starr ran into Gray's arms in fear.

Suddenly, both boys were blinded by the lights turning on instantly. They heard several popping sounds as well. When they opened their eyes, they were surprised by the Guild decorated with party decorations and a table of food set up next to the wall. Everyone held a confetti popper in their hands and confetti was floating around in the air.

They all yelled "Surprise!" at the same time.

Gray laid Starr back down on the floor and he looked around, confused.

"What's all this?" He asked.

"We're celebrating the fact that, as of today, Laxus is no longer a member of Fairy Tail!" Natsu shouted excitedly. Everyone gave another round of cheers along with Natsu.

Starr stared in disbelief at Natsu, his eyes the size of plates and jaw dropped like a rock. He couldn't believe the words he was hearing. "Is that true? Is Laxus _really_ gone?"

"Oh yes, Starr, Laxus is gone…" Master Makarov said. He had several bandages on and around his head and his jacket was slightly tattered. He clutched his shoulder in pain. "It wasn't easy, but I managed to do it… I won't allow anyone, not even my own flesh and blood, to hurt my children, physically or emotionally. Laxus has been getting on everyone's nerves for years now, but this time he went much too far… I'm sorry for any pain Laxus has dealt you…"

Starr felt the urge to cry once again. Everyone had thrown a party just for him, and the Master had battled with the man that exposed him for liking other boys, despite that man being his own grandson, and was slightly injured in the process. Yet, they were all smiling. Everyone was smiling or him.

He wanted to explode into tears, but he had cried himself dry when he talked to Gray. Instead of crying, he just gave everyone in the guild a big, warm smile. "Thank you, everyone… for everything…"

"Actually, Master, if I may…" Gray interjected. "I think he went too far when he kissed Erza…"

Erza let out a loud groan. "DAMMIT! I was so focused on Starr I forgot to kill him for that!" she screamed, angrily. She sunk to the ground and punched a floor board, breaking it into splinters.

"Erza! Don't destroy the guild! Starr just fixed it!" Mirajane whined.

"I can't help it! I need to hit something!" she growled, punching the air repeatedly.

Starr thought for a moment, and then he had an idea. "Hey, Erza, I have an idea on how you can vent out your frustration!" Erza stopped punching and gave the boy a curious look.

Starr took a deep breath and assumed a maker stance. "Maker Magic: Ice Laxus!" An Ice Magic circle appeared on the floor and from it raised an ice sculpture of Laxus with a smug look on its face. Starr then relaxed and smiled at Erza. "Go ahead, take all your anger out on this block of ice"

Erza nodded. She didn't waist a second requiping a pair of swords and lashing out at the ice Laxus. In mere seconds, the ice was destroyed and cut into many evenly cut ice cubes.

Starr took the same stance once again. "Maker Magic: Wood Barrel!" He pressed his hands on the floor and from the Wood Magic Circle that was made appeared a large, wooden barrel. The barrel managed to catch all of the ice cubes that Erza had made out of the Laxus sculpture.

"Wow, nice going, Erza! Now you've vented your anger _and_ we have ice for the drinks!" Natsu exclaimed. Just then, his face fell. "You did vent out _all _of your anger… right, Erza?"

Erza began laughing, similarly to Laxus, but just not as evil or as loud. "Starr… make more of those things… lots more…"

Starr chuckled. "Follow me, I'll do you one better …"

Starr lead Erza outside to the Guild Hall's outside training grounds. He assumed a maker stance once again. "Maker Magic: Ice Laxus Army!" he pressed his palms to the ground, and soon the entire training ground was covered head to toe in ice sculptures of Laxus, every one of them having a different annoying, obnoxious smirk.

Erza saw the army of Laxus' and she didn't even give the light from the spell a chance to disperse before she was wearing her Heaven's Wheel armor and carried a sword was in each of her hands. She grinned like a maniac… but just less than Laxus. "This is going to be fun…"

Starr walked back into the Guild and made a piece sign. "That should keep Erza busy for a bit…" he then gave everyone a grateful smile. "Thanks so much for the party, guys, I really appreciate it…"

Natsu grinned. "Well, if there's one thing Fairy Tail wizards love, even more than breaking stuff, then it's a party!"

Gray nodded. "So, let's get this party started! Hit it, Gajeel!"

Gajeel appeared before them on the stage in his white tuxedo and his guitar in his hand. He took a deep breath and was about to start singing. "NO SINGING! JUST _PLAY _THE MUSIC ON THE STEREO!" Pretty much everyone shouted, even Starr.

Gajeel pouted and walked over to the turn tables that were installed just the other day. He threw down a record and hit play, and soon the Guild Hall was booming with upbeat and exciting music. Everyone in the Guild were dancing, eating (or in Natsu's case, gorging…), or talking about different things that Laxus had done to them over the years.

"Man, I still can't believe it took this long for Laxus to get booted out of Fairy Tail!" Macao groaned.

Wakuba nodded. "I know, I can't even remember how many insults and putdowns he made about us or anyone else, I lost track at quadruple digits!"

Cana shrugged and rose her barrel of booze. "Who cares? As long as he's gone and he's never coming back, I don't give a crap what happens to him! I'm happy knowing he won't be threatening me to strip for him again…"

Macao and Wakuba gave the drink-addict a disturbed look and slowly backed away, allowing her to guzzle her barrel of alcohol in piece.

Gray picked up a cup of orange juice from the table and held it up to Starr. "Hey, Starr, want a drink?"

Starr nodded and took the drink from Gray. He gave the ice mage a smile. "Yeah, thanks, Gray, I was getting thirsty!"

"I just wanna say that you're really awesome at Ice Maker Magic, even _I'm_ unable to make a _person_ out of ice!"

Starr blushed and played with the straw in his drink. "Thanks a lot, Gray, that's really sweet…" he took a sip of his drink and smiled. "Man, that's good stuff!" he threw away the straw and started guzzling the juice from the cup itself. In no time, the cup was empty and he grabbed another one off the table and started drinking that.

"Where did you learn how to do Maker Magic so well? Did Celestica teach you?" Gray asked.

Starr stopped drinking and nodded slowly at Gray. His cheeks were beginning to grow flushed and he was starting to lose his balance, but he didn't stop drinking what was his third cup.

In about an hour, Starr had drunk at least ten doses of the orange juice that Gray had given him. His cheeks were even redder and he was hiccupping even more now. He had a vacant look in his eyes that said "I'm having the day of my life!"

"Damn…! What is… in this stuff, it's… awesome…!" he said with several hiccups in between.

Gray looked at the boy he was talking to and gave him a confused look. "Uh… Starr, are you ok? I don't think I've ever heard you curse before…"

Starr hiccupped and giggled. "Of course I am, Gray-chan! Why wouldn't I be?"

Gray took a step back. "…Gray-_chan_? Since when do you use honorifics? And why _'-chan'_ of all things?!" Suddenly, a thought dawned on him. Starr didn't start acting like this until he started drinking that orange juice, and when he looked at the color of the juice Starr held weakly in his hand, and he noticed it was a slightly darker shade of orange that orange juice normally is.

Just as Starr was about to down another cup, Gray grabbed hold of his hand and he took the cup from the boy's lose grasp.

Starr gave Gray a pouty look. "Gray-chan…! I… wanna… drink that!" he whined childishly.

Gray held the cup's rim up to his nose and he inhaled the scent of the liquid. He gagged at the smell and threw the cup to the floor. "That's orange juice mixed in with some sort of whiskey!" he screamed. "Starr, have you drunken 10 whole doses of this stuff?!"

Starr nodded slowly and he had finally lost his balance completely and fell into Gray's arms. He had completely passed out. "No wonder you're acting so weird! You're _drunk as hell_! MIRA!"

Mirajane came running as soon as she heard Gray's voice. "What's wrong, Gray?" she asked. She then took notice of the drunken, passed out and _still _hiccupping boy in Gray's arm. "What happened to him?"

"That orange juice that was on the table is spiked with whiskey and Starr drank ten full doses of it! How could you let that happen?!"

Mirajane's eyes widened. "I don't know! I don't even know how that _could_ happen! We _just_ got a fresh shipment of orange juice this morning! Everyone who ate breakfast here today had a glass and it was fine for them! It was put back in the cooler after that"

"Who put it in the cooler when you were finished with it?"

"I don't know that either. The Master said he got someone in the guild to do it, and nobody's been in the cooler since"

Gray paused to think for a minute. _'Who could have done this? Other than at breakfast, Starr is the only one who drinks orange juice at the guild, so it must be directed at him. The only question is who would get Starr drunk? And more importantly, why?'_ Gray shook the thoughts from his head. He had to get Starr home before he got anymore drunk than he already is. "Mira, tell Lucy what happened and that I'm taking Starr home! He can't get any more of that junk in his body, he's already had a lot more than he should _ever_ have!"

Mirajane nodded. "Right, and when he wakes up try giving him some star fruit, that should reduce the headache he's sure to get."

Gray nodded back. He scooped Starr up in his arms and carried him, bridal style, out of the Guild hall.

As he walked Starr down the street, towards Starr and Lucy's house, he started to think of who would be do something like spike a drink that only Starr would drink repeatedly.

'_Who could have done this? Other than Macao's kid, Romeo, Starr is the only one in the guild that drinks orange juice, so it's clearly directed at him. And other than the MAJOR hangover he's going to get when he wakes up tomorrow, there's really no point in getting him drunk so why would someone do that?' _Gray stared at the ball of innocence in his arms and suddenly felt guilty. "Starr… I'm so sorry that I can't like you back like you like me… but I'll do anything I can to make it up to you, starting with finding out who did this!"

Starr stirred in his sleep. "Gray-chan… you're such… a good friend…" he mumbled, moving so his face was buried in Gray's chest.

Gray stopped in his tracks and just gave the boy a shocked look, before he smiled warmly. "Starr…"

Suddenly, Gray felt a million bolts of electricity run through his entire body and let out a bloodcurdling scream, which could have been heard from miles off. He felt his entire body go numb and couldn't hold Starr anymore. Starr dropped right in front of Gray and rolled away a few feet. Gray couldn't even stand anymore and he fell to the ground with his head facing towards Starr.

"S-Starr! A-Are you o-ok?" He asked, somehow managing to move his lips.

He heard footsteps walking out from behind him and stand in front of Starr. He looked up at the shadowy figure, without moving his head, and saw that it was, of course, Laxus! He had the most sinister look on his face Gray had ever seen before.

"La-Laxus…! W-What the h-hell are you d-doing…?" he stuttered.

Laxus let out a sinister chuckle and faced Gray. He held up Starr's head by the roots of his hair, causing him to wake up somewhat and cry in pain. "I told you I'd get my revenge, and I'm about to get it…" Laxus then used his free hand to undo Starr's vest and rip it off, followed by his shirt, exposing Starr's well-toned chest.

"Laxus, w-what are you p-planning on doing…?" Gray asked.

Laxus moved his hand down to Starr's belt buckle. "I'm giving this boy what he wants, a good fucking!"

Gray's eyes went wide and those words just kept repeating in his head.

"_A good fucking…"_

"_A good fucking…"_

"_A good fucking…"_

"NOOOOOO!" Gray tried as hard as he could to get up so he could help Starr, but to no avail. His body was completely paralyzed. "STARR! REQUIP! TELEPORT! FLY AWAY! DO _SOMETHING_ AND GET OUT OF HERE!"

Laxus chuckled. "It's no use, Gray. Even if he could move, that whiskey he drank nullifies magical abilities, so he's powerless right now…"

Gray came to a realization. "LAXUS! Are you saying that you're the one that spiked Starr's orange juice?!"

Laxus smirked. "Of course… The old man told me to put away the orange juice that arrived this morning, so I added a little kick to it since I know Star-boy here is the only one who drinks it…"

Gray growled ferociously. "LAXUS! YOU'RE THE SICKEST PERSON ON THE FACE OF THE EARTH! You got a _KID _drunk and plan to take away his innocence for being kicked out of the Guild for bullying him?! You're really _THAT_ _petty _a person!?"

Laxus' smirk grew wider. "I don't know, let's find out…" He threw Starr's tops to the ground and used his lightning magic to burn them to ashes. He slowly made his way down his chest to Starr's belt buckle and undid it. Starr shivered at the cold touch of Laxus' hand touching his exposed skin.

Gray's closed his eyes. He couldn't look at was about to happen in good conscience, he could watch as his friend got raped while he couldn't do a thing to stop it.

"Open! Gate of the Golden Bull! Taurus!"

"Card Magic: Heaven! Wind! Wind Edge!"

Gray opened his eyes again and saw Laxus being sent back by a wave of wind and Lucy's spirit, Taurus's axe, and Starr dropping to the ground. He looked over from the direction it came from and saw Cana and Lucy standing there, cards and key in hand, each with a look of disgust on his face.

"Laxus! This is a new low, EVEN for you!" Cana yelled, angrily.

"Just wait until the Magic Council here's about this! When they find out you tried to rape a kid you'll be thrown in jail for the rest of your life!" Lucy stated. "But in the meantime, Taurus, attack Laxus! And don't you _dare_ hold back!"

Taurus nodded and raised his axe. "Whatever you say, Lucy! MOOOOO!" he charged full throttle at Laxus.

Cana pulled out some cards from her purse. "Card Magic: Death! Reverse Lover! Lightning! Nightmare Blast!" Cana waved the three cards in her hand in front of her body and a magic circle appeared which fired a beam of dark magical energy and towards Laxus.

Just as the Nightmare Blast spell and Taurus's attack were about to hit him, Laxus dematerialized into lightning and dodged them. "I'll be back, and Starr will pay I tell you, PAY!" His voice boomed through the alley.

Lucy ran up to Gray and helped him stand up, Cana did the same with Starr. Starr had gone back to sleep, and was snoring lightly. Gray saw him shiver as the cold wind brushed up against his now bare chest. He looked up at Lucy.

"Lucy, take off my shirt!" he ordered.

"Gray! This is no time for your exhibition habits to get the better of you!" Lucy yelled.

"I meant, take off my shirt and _put it on Starr_!"

"Oh… yeah, that makes more sense. Hold on…" Lucy laid Gray onto the ground and undid and took off his shirt. She handed it over to Cana who threw it over Starr's torso and picked him up.

The girls carried the boys back to Lucy's house. They put Gray and Starr in Lucy's bed.

Gray took a deep breath and sunk into the pillow. "Thanks, Lucy…" he said. He moved his head over and looked at the boy sleeping beside him. "Poor Star…"

Lucy nodded. "No problem, Gray…" She looked over at Starr and frowned.

"I know, and if you guys showed up even a second later, I'd be watching him lose his innocence right in front of me and wouldn't be able to do a thing about it!"

Cana stood up and headed for the door. "I'm going to go get Ms. Porlyusica, she should be able to cure Gray's paralysis, and she might have something for that whisky Starr drank as well. I can tell just from Starr's breath that that stuff was really strong and that it might be dangerous for a kid to drink. If he wakes up before we get back just make sure he sits still and give him some tea"

Gray managed to nod back. "Thanks, Cana, tell her I'm sorry for getting her up so late…"

When Cana walked out the door, Lucy sighed and sat down at the edge of the bed. "I can't believe Laxus actually tried to do this, I mean this is just unforgivable! Starr is just an innocent kid, and Laxus nearly took that away!" She felt tears roll down their cheeks and onto the backs of her hands.

"I swear… If I see his face again, I won't hesitate to turn every drop of his blood into ice, and watch him die a slow and painfully freezing death!" Gray had an angered look in his eye that would give even Laxus himself a run for his money.

Lucy wiped away her tears and moved the blanket up more over them. "Let's try not to think about Laxus right now, stress might make both of your conditions worse…"

Gray sighed. "You're right, Lucy, but can u do me a favor?"

"Yeah, what?"

"…Could you take my pants off for me, too?" he asked with a grin. The ice mage was greeted with a slap across the face courtesy of a very angry and embarrassed Lucy.

"Goodnight, Gray..." she muttered and headed off to the bathroom to change.

Gray chuckled. "Night, Lucy…" he looked over at his friend and smiled. "Goodnight, Starr…"

Starr stirred and crawled closer to gray. "Goodnight… Gray-chan…" he mumbled softly.


	7. The return of Lisanna Strauss part 1

"AHHHH!" Gray screamed in pain, awakening him and Starr from their slumber. Gray had been stricken in the chest with a hard, thin object, causing both boys to tumble out of Lucy's bed and onto the floor.

Gray looked up, ready to yell at the person that not only hit him, but woke him and Starr up from a peaceful sleep, but remained silent when he saw Porlyusica standing by the bed with her broomstick in her hand, glaring down at them both.

Porlyusica relaxed her body and set the broomstick aside. "Well, that should handle the paralysis" she said.

"Huh?" Gray lifted himself off of the floor and clenched his fists together a few times, and indeed his paralysis was cured. "Well, how 'bout that…"

Porlyusica turned around to dig into a small handbag set up on the desk. "Now I'll get something for the boy's hangover…"

Starr blinked. "What hango-OW! MY HEAD!" he screamed, clutching his head in pain and rolling around on the floor.

"_That _hangover…" Porlyusica said smugly.

Gray stood up and slowly moved Starr back into Lucy's bed and pulled the comforter over him. The boy calmed down and relaxed himself. He gave Gray a warm smile. "Thanks, Gray…" he said.

Gray smiled back. "Anytime, Starr…"

Porlyusica tapped Gray on the shoulder and shook her head towards the kitchen, signalling Gray to come with her. Gray nodded and walked with her into the kitchen, out of Starr's hearing range.

Gray didn't waste any time. "I take it you know what happened last night?" he asked, straight to the point.

Porlyusica nodded and looked down. "Cana told me the whole story… Ordinarily I despise helping you humans, since you seem to never be able to stay out of trouble and never solve a problem peacefully, especially Makarov's bunch, but Laxus went too far this time…"

Gray punched a fist into his hand and frowned. "_Way_ too far, I swear if I get my hands on him, I'll…"

"Believe or not, Gray, this is not Laxus' first time doing this… this is actually the first time he's actually failed at one of his sexual assaults" Porlyusica stated.

Gray's mouth dropped like a rock. "_WHAT?! _Why are you just _now_ telling somebody about this? And who _else_ has he raped?"

Porlyusica sighed. "There are too many to count at this point, I lost count after he hit double digits… Many girls have come to my home over the years, seeking pain relief from Laxus' activities, even quite a few boys as well. As far as I know, all of Laxus' victims have either gotten on his bad side or gotten him in trouble with Makarov, and Laxus chose to, as all of them put it '_Get even'_ through these extremes… All of the victims begged me not to say anything, for fear that Laxus would come after them again, but I can't sit by and allow Laxus to do this to anyone else anymore, especially him…" She glanced over into the bedroom, seeing Starr breathing heavily and rubbing his templates in pain. "I must say, Starr is the least despicable of you humans I've met in quite a while, and he's volunteered to help me with my patients on multiple occasions…" she gave Gray a determined look. "Promise me that you'll protect him from Laxus, Gray"

Gray nodded. "I promise. Starr is the kind of person that makes everyone around him feel better about themselves and gives everyone a positive and upbeat attitude. I can't even remember when I'd take on a job and I wouldn't give so much effort after I started doing them with Starr… and I won't let Laxus take that away from him! He'll have to go through me and everyone else at Fairy Tail to get to Starr!"

Porlyusica smiled proudly. "Protecting one of your own, even at the expense of yourselves… you are definitely Makarov's children alright…" she said softly. She handed Gray a bottle of pills. "Now, with that said, do me two favors. One: put a few of these in a glass of water and have Starr drink it…"

Gray nodded once again. "Yeah, and what's two?"

Porlyusica grabbed her broomstick and wacked Gray over the head with it. "PUT ON A SHIRT, PERVERT!" She screamed.

Gray yelped and ran back into the room and picked up his shirt from the bed and quickly buttoned it up. Starr looked up at Gray and giggled as he watched him shove the buttons into the holes of his shirt and then stand completely still in fear of the old woman.

Porlyusica packed up her things and headed for the door. "I'll be on my way. Have him take two of those pills in a glass of water and he should be fine" she said, making her way through the door. "Lucy told me that she went into town for a bit and she'd be home after she picked up some groceries."

Starr looked up from the bed and smiled at Gray as he watched the exhibitionist sigh in relief.

After Gray put the pills Porlyusica gave him in a glass of water, waited for them to dissolve, and then helped pour it into Starr's mouth, the blonde fell back in the pillow and sighed at the lack of pain he felt dissolve from his head.

Suddenly, a thought popped into the dragon slayer's mind and he frowned. "Hey, Gray?" Gray looked over at the boy, who started to blush a crimson red. "Um… I kinda remember part of what happened last night, and… I'm sorry I called you 'Gray-chan' so much, I really shouldn't have… "

Gray flinched. He remembered that Starr often called him 'Gray-chan' several times the previous night, even after Laxus showing up. "It's no problem, Starr. It was just the whiskey talking"

"Well, um… I was still kind of conscious when I was saying that… I'm really sorry, but I couldn't stop myself from saying that… It just felt so nice to say it out loud that I couldn't fight the urge to say it…"

"Oh…" Gray said.

Then he realized, despite being drunk as hell, Gray could tell that Starr felt happy adding '-chan' to the end of his name. Every time he said it, Gray could see a small twinkle in Starr's eyes, as if he was truly happy saying it.

The ice mage took a seat next to Starr and smiled at him. "You know, Starr… if you… _like_ saying 'Gray-chan'… I don't mind it…"

Starr's eyes widened. His face began blushing furiously and he looked away from Gray out of embarrassment. "I-It's ok, I-I don't want to make you feel uncomfortable…" he mumbled, nervously.

Gray took hold of one of Starr's hands and gave a gentle tug, making the blonde boy face him again. "Starr, if you really like calling me 'Gray-chan', then go ahead. Seriously, it doesn't bother me. If I minded affectionate names then Juvia would probably be in frozen in a pillar of ice by now"

Both boys chuckled at the mental picture of Juvia being trapped in a block of ice with a look of rejection on her face. Star smiled and stared down at sheets. "A-Alright, Gray… chan…" he whispered and rested back onto the pillow.

Gray smiled and stood up. While Gray wasn't typically fond of having a boy calling him 'Gray-chan', in fact he didn't like using honorifics all together, but when Starr did it… he felt different, almost like he was saying his name in a completely different way that made it sound… nicer.

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door, followed by its opening and Lucy walking in with a paper bag, filled with food, in her arms. "Hey, Gray, you're up. Did Porlyusica take care of Starr?" she asked, laying the groceries down in the kitchen.

Gray nodded and followed her inside. "Yeah, she gave him some pills and he felt a lot better…" he replied. "…Did you tell anyone else from the guild about what happened with Laxus?"

Lucy nodded back. She and Gray took as seat at the table. "When Cana and I told everyone about it… let's just say that Laxus kissing Erza seemed like a pleasant memory for them…" she sighed. "I can't believe it. I just don't believe it. Laxus is… or at least was, a member of Fairy Tail, he shouldn't be like this. I can get that some people have attitudes and others just don't want people getting on their nerves, but…" Tears made their way down Lucy's face and onto her lap. "What Laxus tried to do was unforgivable! No one in their right minds would be stupid enough to let Laxus get away with what he did, and he'll pay for trying to hurt Starr!"

"Don't worry, Lucy, Laxus will pay, you have no worries about that" Gray stated.

The two heard a cute, yet encouraging roar coming from the floor. They turned their heads down and saw that it came from none other than one of Starr's Celestial Spirits, Terry. Despite his cute exterior, he had a displeased look on his face.

"Terry?" Gray questioned.

Lucy cautiously picked him up and laid him on the table, thanking the gods that he didn't bite her again. "What are you doing here? Did Starr summon you?" she asked. Terry shook his head.

"No, we came on our own. We are!" Another voice spoke.

The wizards looked over in the direction of the voice and were surprised to see all of Starr's other spirits standing in front of them: Aries, Scorpio, Gemini (Taking on Lucy's appearance) and even Caelum.

"We heard about what happened from Leo. We aren't going to let Laxus get away with trying to hurt Starr! We are!" Scorpio stated.

"Th-That's right! Starr is the one of the best celestial wizards there is and he doesn't deserve what Laxus tried to do!" Aries added. "Starr freed my contract with Karen, and she saved the rest of us from Angel, he is the last person that deserves it!" Caelum blinked its lights to agree with Aries.

"We're going to help in any way we can!" Gemini said confidently. "I've been bounced around from owner to owner for years now and Starr is without a doubt the best one yet! Celestial Spirits are bound to their owners through thick or thin, so whatever happens we'll be right there beside him!"

The wizards smiled proudly at the spirits, Lucy was on the brink of tears once again.

"Thanks everyone, you're the best" Starr spoke from the bedroom. Lucy, Gray and the spirits walked back into the bedroom and saw the younger blonde was crying as well. "You guys are awesome. You'd really stand up to a former S-class wizard for me?"

"Without a doubt! We are!" Scorpio grinned, forming the shape of a scorpion's claws with his fingers.

"You're our wizard, Starr, we promised to be there for you, and we intend to fulfill that promise!" Gemini said loyally, clenching their fist for emphasis.

Terry jumped up on the bed and nuzzled his snout into Starr's bare chest, making him laugh.

Lucy snapped her fingers. "Oh, I almost forgot!" She quickly ran back into the kitchen, then returning just as quickly with her hands behind her back. "I got a little surprise for Starr while I was out shopping." She pulled her hands out from behind her back and held a small stack of clothes up to Starr. "I thought since Laxus burned your other shirt, you might need a new one, so went out to get you one. But since it didn't match your pants I just got you a whole new outfit instead."

Starr looked down at the clothes and smiled. "You didn't have to do this you know, Lucy…"

Lucy smiled back. "It was my pleasure, Starr. And besides, I might not be making enough money to live here if it weren't for you, so consider it a thank you"

Starr nodded and stood up from the bed, and then threw the clothes into the air. "Requip!" he shouted. The room soon filled with light emitting from Starr. Everyone shielded their eyes from the light.

When the light dispersed, it revealed Starr, wearing a white t-shirt with a light-blue collar and yellow stars on the sleeves, a pair of black pants, held up by a brown belt with a star logo on the belt buckle and a pair of white sneakers with black stripes and yellow stars on the ankles. There was even a small pouch attached to his belt, where his spirit keys laid comfortably instead of on the chain they usually remained on.

Starr did a few spins around, admiring his new outfit. He snapped his fingers and in no time at all a large mirror in the shape of a star appeared in the room. Starr looked at himself in the mirror and smiled happily. "Thanks so much, Lucy! I love it even better than my last one!" he said enthusiastically. He gave both the mages and his spirits a grin. "Now I say I break it in with a new job!"

Aries gasped. "A-Are you sure you're ready to go on a job already? I-I'm sorry, but I just thought that you'd still be tired and might want to take it easy" she said sheepishly.

Starr shook his head. "No way, Aries. I haven't taken on a job in at least a week and I need the exercise. Plus, if Laxus thinks he can just violate me and I'll be all weak and helpless just because I'm a kid, he's got another thing coming." Starr clenched his fists excitedly. "When I see him, he'll learn an important lesson: You mess with a dragon, you're gonna get burned!"

Both Lucy and Gray grinned. "That's our Starr… Calm, collective and powerful as always" Gray said proudly.

Scorpio, Gemini, and Aries all waved goodbye. "We'll be ready any time you need us, Starr! We are!" Scorpio said, before he and the other spirits disappeared and went back to the spirit world.

Starr ran into the kitchen, returning a few seconds later with a star fruit in his hand. "Let's go!" he cheered, biting down into the fruit and chewing it happily.

Lucy and Gray laughed and followed the boy out the door, heading towards the guild hall and their next job.

-x~X~x-

When Starr and the others arrived at the guild, he was bombarded with a million questions, sympathy apologies, and threats to kill Laxus should anyone see him (most of them coming from Natsu). Starr assured them that he was, in all senses, fine and back to normal and told them not to waste their energy worrying about him, and then went over to the request board in search of a new job. Some of the Fairy Tail wizards were a little reluctant to let Starr take on a job after what had happened, but none the less, they let him search the board for the group's latest mission.

Starr hummed loudly as he browsed through the various requests posted. It didn't take long for Gray and the rest of the gang to take up a seat next to the request board.

"Starr, are you sure that you're ok to go on a mission again?" Erza asked.

"Of course he is!" Natsu said excitedly. "Starr isn't the kind of person that's gonna get upset over something as dumb as Laxus being trying to be a big pain in the ass… oh…" Natsu suddenly realized his wording and laughed nervously. "Sorry, bad choice of words, I guess…"

"You think, flame brain?" Gray commented bitterly, bonking the pinkette on the head, resulting in a loud moan.

"I say that we put this whole incident behind us and act like it never happened." Bisca suggested. "Starr obviously doesn't want to talk to anyone about it, and he doesn't want any special treatment either. I know if someone tried to rape me I definitely wouldn't want people talking about it…"

"And anyone that tries will get a blast of Guns Magic right in their throat…" Alzack quietly and angrily whispered. Bisca heard his silent threat and blushed, glancing off in a different direction.

"Hey, guys, I think I found something!" Starr announced, pointing to the request board. "Come check it out, Gray-chan"

"Gray_-chan_?" The entire group of wizards said simultaneously.

"…Is Starr still drunk?" Cana asked, giving the blonde an intimidating stare. She sniffed the air around Starr. "Nope, no alcohol in that boy… so why are you still saying Gray-chan?"

Starr blushed and looked in a different direction, while Gray gave off an embarrassed cough. "Uh… Starr really likes calling me 'Gray-chan' so I told him it was ok…" Gray explained.

"_Oh…_" everyone chorused.

"Well, how adorable is that, huh?" A voice spoke behind them, followed by a sinister laugh. Everyone but Starr recognized that laugh almost immediately. They turned around and were soon face-to-face with a tall woman with light-brown hair tied up in a ponytail on the left side of her head and glasses over her eyes. She was wearing a green dress that showed much of her large breasts with pink wing-like fabrics attached to the back, matching green, arm-length gloves, black stockings, white sandals, and in her hand she carried a hand fan with fur at the end of it. She had a green Fairy Tail mark just above her right breast.

"Evergreen…" Erza said bitterly.

Evergreen smirked at the group of wizards, but mostly in Erza's direction. "Well hello again, Titania Erza, it's been a while hasn't it?" she said smugly.

"What are you doing here, Evergreen?" Natsu asked loudly, standing up from his seat. "You should know by now that Laxus isn't a member of Fairy Tail anymore"

Suddenly, Evergreen's smirk turned into an annoyed frown. "Oh, I'm well aware, and so is the rest of the Thunder Legion." She slammed her hands down on the table angrily. "I bring a message from Laxus, so listen well: Laxus' will get his revenge, you can be sure of that! And we'll be right then next to him, every step of the way!"

Gray stood up. "Now _you_ listen well!" he yelled. "It doesn't matter what you do, Starr didn't do anything wrong! Laxus got himself kicked out of Fairy Tail for picking on him and everyone else! And if Laxus thinks he can almost rape a kid and get away with it, he can think again! Now go off and tell that _man_ _whore _that he'll have to get through all of us before he can get to Starr!"

Starr stood in awe at Gray with his mouth open and his eyes wide before he smiled happily at him. _'Thank you, Gray-chan…' _he though contently, a small blush making its way back onto his cheeks.

Erza nodded and rose to her feet. "And it would be wise for you to behave yourself too, Evergreen, you and the rest of the Thunder Legion. The master isn't in a good mood about this whole thing, and even being associated with Laxus at this point might spell trouble for you. Now, unless you have actual business with us then I suggest you leave us alone and go be a pain somewhere else, because we couldn't care less about you!"

Evergreen stepped back and groaned. "You will be sorry you said that, Titania…" She turned around and furiously walked out of the guild.

Erza took a deep breath and sat back down in her seat. "Ugh, that woman gets on my last nerve!" she grumbled.

"What about Laxus? How many nerves does he get on?" Natsu asked.

"He gets on the rest… and then goes back to the last one and pounds it into the ground until its nothing but dust…" she gripped the edge of the table and squeezed the end of it until it soon broke off.

Bisca patted Erza on the back in an attempt to calm her down. "Come on, Erza, you need to calm down"

Starr snapped his fingers. "Oh my god, I totally forgot! I can't go on a job today, I have to go shopping for my friend's birthday tomorrow" Mirajane and Elfman got a saddened expression on their faces.

Gray gave Starr a confused look. "You've never talked about any friends before, who is he?" he asked.

"_She_ actually, I met her a few years ago over in a remote town called Makuba. Her name is…" Starr took notice of Mirajane and Elfman's depression and stopped. "Mira, Elfman, what's the matter?"

Mirajane looked up and away. Only Elfman looked at Starr. "Sorry, it's just that… it's also our late-sister's birthday tomorrow…" he said.

Starr frowned and laid a hand on Mirajane's shoulder for support. "I'm so sorry, I swear I didn't want to bring it up. If I'd known I wouldn't have said anything."

Mirajane wiped away the tears that were forming in her eyes and shook her head. "It's fine, Starr. She's been dead for two years, but we still miss her, a lot…" more tears started to spill down her face. "Oh, Lisanna…"

Starr's eyes widened. "Mira… did you just say that you're sister's name was 'Lisanna'?" he asked slowly.

Mirajane sniffled and nodded. "Yes, why?"

Starr took a few steps back and raised his finger. "I'll be right back! Star Dragon Magic: Transport!" A light appeared at the tip of his finger, which he used to draw a star in mid-air and pressed a palm to it. In a flash of light, Starr disappeared.

He returned to the guild in another flash of light, holding a photo in his hand. "Mirajane, Elfman, I think you need to see this…" he said. The blonde slid the photo across the table in front of Mirajane and Elfman. Mirajane picked up the picture and looked at it. Both Strauss siblings gasped at the image that was held in the photo.

"No way… This can't be possible…" Mirajane mumbled to herself.

Starr shook his head. "Nope, that picture was taken just last year… Lisanna is… alive…"

Mirajane, Elfman, and even Natsu all went into shock. The color in his face, not to mention Mirajane and Elfman's, had drained completely, and their mouths went limp. All three of them couldn't even move or speak, this was too astounding for words.

Gray was the first to be able to speak. "Starr, are you sure that it's the Lisanna that we know?" he asked. "I mean… it can't possibly be our Lisanna, she died two years ago on a mission with Mira and Elfman"

"Take a look for yourself if you don't believe me, she has a Fairy Tail mark" Starr said, pointing to the photo on the table.

Gray walked over and picked up the photo from Mirajane's tight grip. It showed the image of a young girl with short, silver hair and bright, blue eyes. She wore a lavender dress, which exposed most of her her left leg, a pink sash around her waist, and sandals. On her exposed left leg was the Fairy Tail logo in white. The girl was playing with a yellow kitten in the picture. She was, indeed, Lisanna Strauss, supposedly late-member of Fairy Tail.

Natsu all but ripped the picture from Gray's hands and held it up to his face. Natsu could barely see through all of the tears that were spilling down from his eyes. Yes, Natsu Dragneel, son of the fearsome fire dragon, Igneel, and all around flamboyant tough guy… was crying.

This surprised Starr greatly, but not so much for everyone else. "Natsu… you're crying, I've never seen that before…" Starr said, concerned.

Gray pulled Starr back by the shoulder and shook his head. "Starr, Natsu went through a lot when Lisanna supposedly died…" he leaned down and whispered into his ear, "He was in love with her…" quiet enough that Natsu didn't hear him.

Starr looked directly up at Gray and stared at him, wide-eyed and everything. "Really?"

Gray nodded a reply and pointed to the door, indicating that they should go outside to talk. Starr agreed and followed Gray outside the guild hall, away from Natsu and the rest of the wizards. They were out of hearing range for any of the people inside.

Starr leaned against the wall of the guild hall and looked up at Gray. "So, can you tell me what happened to Lisanna before? And what happened between her and Natsu?"

Gray nodded and crossed his arms. "Well, let's see, it started about ten years ago, when Natsu found Happy's egg…"

Gray explained the story of how Natsu found an egg in the forest and brought it to the guild. He decided to hatch the egg himself, thinking it was a dragon egg, and Lisanna volunteered to help him. They built a small hut out of up in the mountains a few miles away and the two cared for the egg there every day, sometimes even staying overnight in the little hut.

"One day, Lisanna jokingly suggested that she, Natsu and the egg were like a family, that she and Natsu were like a mother and father and the egg was their baby, and asked Natsu if she could someday be her real wife. Lisanna was joking of course, but Natsu actually started to consider it for a long time, so much that at some point he fell in love with her…" Gray explained.

Starr nodded. "I see, that's why Natsu would be so upset… so what actually happened to Lisanna?"

Gray then explained how Lisanna went on an s-class mission with Elfman and Mirajane, and how Elfman tried a full-body take over with a Beast Soul and he knocked Lisanna hundreds of feet into the air and across the mountains.

"We never found Lisanna's body, so we assumed she died, thinking she might have fallen onto the rocks and into the ocean or something. If anyone went more insane that Mirajane or Elfman on the day, it was Natsu…" Gray stated. "He didn't speak to anyone for a month, all he ever did was spend his time looking for Lisanna. He refused to believe that Lisanna died until he saw it with his own eyes. Eventually, he gave up on Lisanna being alive, but he never let his feelings for her go. He won't admit it, but, he still loves her, and everyone knows it…"

Starr couldn't believe what he was hearing. He may have only may have known Natsu for a short while, but he knew Natsu's character very well, and hearing that he was in love with someone, or that he was in love with someone like Lisanna, was definitely a surprise.

"Wow… Natsu was really in love?" Starr asked. "I-I don't mean it in a bad way, it's just… hard to picture…"

"Yep… Anytime Lisanna was around her, he'd smile and blush like an even bigger goofball than he already is, and he'd get all jumpy when any other boys would get near her. Natsu and I get on each other's nerves a lot, but I didn't dare push him when it came to her" Gray said. "I actually overheard him say to himself that he was going to tell her that when she got back from that job… but, since she never came back, he never told her, and he's been burdened with that guilt for a while, even if he doesn't show it…"

"Wow… I feel so sorry for him… I'll bring you with me to see Lisanna if you want, but I can't guarantee you'll be happy to see her…"

Gray raised an eye brow. "Why would you say that?"

Starr sighed. "She doesn't remember anything, or anyone, so she wouldn't know who you guys are…" he answered quietly.

The two were surprised to hear a sad and whimpering "What?" coming from a certain pink-haired Dragon Slayer behind them. The ice and star mages turned around to see none other than Natsu standing there, tears streaming down his face.

"Natsu… I'm so sorry..."

Starr didn't even have time to respond before Natsu had him pinned up against the wall by his shirt. "Take me to her… now!" he ordered. His expression told Starr that he was dead serious. Starr could see that and agreed instantly, and before long, he, Natsu, Happy Gray, Erza and Lucy as well as Mirajane and Elfman were on a train heading directly for Makuba. The most shocking thing about this was… Natsu wasn't getting motion sickness…

The ride was a silent one. No one even spoke until about half an hour into trip, it just felt too awkward to for any words. The one to speak first was, surprisingly, Mirajane.

"Starr, can you… tell me what happened to Lisanna?" She asked. "I mean, how… how did you find Lisanna before us? When the Beast took over Elfman and he sent Lisanna flying I ran after her, immediately, and when I searched in the direction I didn't find any trace of her, only a small crater…"

Starr nodded slowly. "Alright, but listen well because this is a long story…"

***Flashback* (Starr's POV) **

_One night, two years ago, I was hiking up the mountain on the outskirts of a small town off in the distance. I had a little fire going and was munching on some roasted star fruit. I was kind of bored and was wanting something exciting to happen… little did I know that something more than exciting was just about to happen._

_I gave off a yawn rubbed the dust from my eyes. "Guess I'll head to bed…" I said to myself. I was about to set up a tent and go to sleep, when suddenly I saw someone drop out of the sky and landed directly into the hard mountain ground, swirling up a large gust of wind and dust, blowing out the fire. It sent me flying back a few feet._

"_What the heck!?" I screamed, getting my footing back and steadying myself on the ground. After the wind from the impact subsided, I ran up to the crater and saw Lisanna lying, passed out and barely breathing. I didn't really understand what had happened to her, but I knew I had to help her. _

_I quickly teleported her and myself to the nearest hospital I could think of, the one in the remote town of Makuba, and had her get ready. She needed surgery to fix a few of her broken bones. The last words she said before they took her in were "Elf-nii-chan… I… forgive you…" I didn't know who 'Elf-nii-chan' was, but I knew he probably was close to her. _

_The surgery took all night, but it was successful, with a little help of my Healing Magic. I came in daily to help with recovering period. She was unconscious for about a week, but finally she woke up. She had a vacant look in her eye. She slowly sat up and looked around._

"_Where… am I…?" she asked curiously._

_I smiled happily at her. "You're in a hospital. You crashed into the mountains a week ago, and I took you here to help you. Are you feeling ok now? You were hurt pretty badly"_

_She nodded slowly, clutching her side in pain. "It hurts a little bit, but other than that I feel fine…"_

"_That's good… So, what's your name?"_

"_L-Lisanna…"_

"_Well, nice to meet you, Lisanna, I'm Starr. Do you know what happened to you? You crashed into the mountains from a pretty high height."_

_Lisanna shook her head. She looked down at her hands, as if expecting an answer. "I… I don't remember anything. All I can remember is that… I'm a wizard, a Take Over wizard… and that I'm part of a guild, but… I don't remember what it's called… or who's in it…"_

"_Amnesia, I guess…" I got up and stood at her side. "Hold, on, maybe this might help…" I placed my hands at either side of her head and activated Magic Circles in my palms. "Star Dragon Magic: Heal!" Light-blue light radiated from my hands and onto Lisanna's head. _

_After a minute, I took away my hands and undid the spell. "Anything?" I asked, hoping that my Healing Magic may have helped her remember again._

"_Nope, sorry…" she said sadly. "But it did take away some of the pain from my head, so thank you, Starr"_

_I smiled. "No problem, Lisanna. And I'll help you in any way I can until you remember your life"_

***Flashback ends* (Normal POV)**

"After Lisanna was released from the hospital, she started working in a pet adoption center. I helped her work there until she could make enough money to buy a place to live. I visited her every now and again to check on her and see if she remembered her old life, but she never did." Starr explained. "But now that I know what her old life is, we may be able to bring her memories back"

Natsu looked down, as did Mirajane and Elfman. They all had looks of what appeared to be a mix of sorrow and joy wrapped in one. Starr wasn't sure if he should be happy or sad for his friends.

"I can't… I can't believe this…" Mirajane said. She was crying again, as was Elfman. "My baby sister is alive, this has to be a dream…"

"It's not, Mira, Lisanna is alive. And if we can jog her memory, I'm sure she'll be more than happy to come back to Fairy Tail" Starr said, placing a hand on Mirajane's shoulder.

"Starr, you're a real man for treating my sister so well. I've never felt so relieved in my life to know that I didn't actually…" Elfman looked down at his trembling hands, "...kill my baby sister…"

"Don't worry, Elfman, it wasn't your fault. You did what you could to protect us, and Starr said it himself, she forgave you" Mirajane said, resting her head on her brother's shoulder, letting her tears run onto his jacket. "She forgave you…"

"Hey, Natsu…" Gray said. "Why aren't you getting motion sick?"

Natsu suddenly became aware of his motion sickness and dove for the window. All of the Fairy Tail wizards let out a chuckle, which eventually became a roaring laugh. Everyone couldn't wait to meet up with Lisanna again, especially Natsu…

**~x~X~x~**

**Hey, guys, sorry, I haven't updated the story in a while, but I couldn't really think of what kind of events could continue after the last chapter. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the next chapter to come! So I'll see then, hope you're enjoying the story, 'cause I know I am writing it! **


	8. The return of Lisanna Strauss part 2

**Hey everyone, it's your favorite Fanfiction writer, Digidestined Dude 15 here, and here is the latest chapter of "Starr, the Star Dragon Slayer." This is a very emotional chapter for Gray, Natsu **_**and**_** Lisanna, but to find out what I mean, you'll have to read on. Have a blast!**

**~x-X-x~**

It took about a day at constant travel for the train to finally reach Makuba, but it did. Natsu, Mirajane and Elfman were practically killing themselves - not to mention each other - to get off the train and out of the station. Gray, Lucy, Erza, Happy and Starr all ran to keep up with them. When they finally got out the train station, they were surprised to see such a pleasant sight that was the town. It was a quaint little town, holding no more than a few dozen families at the least, judging from the number of small houses scattered around the place, as well as the small market set up.

"Wow, I didn't expect Makuba to be so peaceful" Lucy stated, looking at all the happy faces of the townsfolk.

Starr faced Lucy and smiled. "Yeah, Makuba is a calm and delightful town. It's so isolated that there's almost no conflict here at-"

Natsu quickly cut him off. "Yeah, whatever, where's Lisanna?" he said, rude and impatiently. He obviously didn't want to waste any time getting to see his childhood friend-slash-loved one.

"Calm down, Natsu!" Elfman shouted. "Being patient is being a man! We all want to see Lisanna as badly as you do, but getting all rude and obnoxious is not going to accomplish anything! So just take a deep breath and cool down!"

Natsu stood still for a minute. He took a deep breath and exhaled… of course, 'exhaled' in Natsu's terms means to breathe a large river of fire straight into the air while screaming loudly. He earned himself a lot of stares from the people passing by. He finally stopped 'exhaling' when Erza smacked him over the head and knocked him out before she flung the Fire Dragon Slayer over her shoulder.

"That should keep him out for a bit, now, let's go see Lisanna" Erza said, almost in an order.

"Aye!" Everyone else but Natsu replied happily.

Starr lead the group to one of the larger buildings in town. It was a two-story building with the words "Animal Adoption Center" written in Kanji above the front door. Everyone other than Starr was nervous to go in there, but the latter was thrilled. Not just because he was about to meet up with Lisanna again after several months, but he was going to reunite Lisanna with her true family, and the boy that was in love with her would be over the moon.

"Ready, everyone?" he asked.

Starr opened the door and shouted, "Lisanna, guess who I brought wi-" but he froze in his tracks at the sight he was witnessing. When Starr opened that door, he expected Lisanna to be there to greet him, probably holding a small animal, with a big smile on her face. She would instantly run up and remember who her Fairy Tail friends were … boy, was he off…

In front of him and the rest of the Fairy Tail wizards… was none other than Laxus! He had that usual smug look on his face and he was holding Lisanna with one hand by her head. "Well, hello, kiddies, what brings you to the lovely town of Makuba?" he asked, giving Lisanna a rough tug on her hair, resulting in a loud, painful scream. Everyone glared daggers at Laxus.

"Laxus…" Gray muttered, a dark look in his eye. "You have a LOT of nerve showing your face to everyone after what you did to Starr…"

Laxus let out an arrogant chuckle. "Well, _you _have a lot of nerve to interrupt me from making Starr pay for getting me kicked out of Fairy Tail, so I guess we're even." He glanced down at the struggling Lisanna. "No matter, I guess I'll have to make up for it by punishing Lisanna here. She's not as young as Starr, but she's just as adorable and innocent. It's a good thing I overheard you talking about her before you came here, otherwise I might have had to go through all the wizards in the guild to get to Starr, not that that would take long, of course." Lisanna screamed again because of another of Laxus' tugs.

Erza dropped Natsu and requiped a sword, pointing it directly at Laxus' throat. "If you think that we're going to stand by and let you do that, then all the electricity in your body has gone to your already over-sized head!"

Laxus chuckled again. "Electricity to the head… not a bad idea…" Without any kind of warning, the lightning wizard let loose a blast of lightning magic directly from his hand holding Lisanna, resulting in her shrieking in absolute suffering. The sound was more than enough to wake Natsu up.

After a few seconds, Laxus dispelled his magic and threw Lisanna to the side of the room. Elfman and Mirajane ran to her aid.

"Lisanna! Wake up!" Elfman yelled.

"Please don't leave us again, Lisanna!" Mirajane cried.

Natsu rose to his feet, looking at the floor with his eyes covered by his pink bangs. "Laxus… I've always thought that you were strong… after all, you've kicked my ass on multiple occasions…" He looked up and gave Laxus the most fearsome look he'd ever given anyone in his life. "But you hurt Lisanna… and you tried to hurt Starr… and now… I'M GONNA KICK YOUR ASS!" He lunged at Laxus so fast he almost rivaled Jet's Speed magic, his fists were ignited with so much fire that even the others could feel the heat from that far away. Laxus got ready to block the attack.

"NO!" Mirajane suddenly screamed, stopping Natsu in his tracks, standing right in front of his opponent by only a few inches. Everyone turned to look at her, even Laxus. "Natsu, he hurt my baby sister… he's mine."

Everyone's jaws dropped, save for Laxus, who was laughing like a hyena. "Yeah right, Mira. You can't fight, you couldn't even win if I didn't use magic whatsoever!" he said while still laughing.

"Yeah, Mira, don't be crazy! You can't win against Laxus!" Gray pleaded. "Just let us handle this!"

Mirajane's eyes glared daggers into Laxus'. "I don't care if I can or can't, I'll be the one to make Laxus pay!" she looked over at Starr. "Starr, you focus on healing Lisanna, Laxus is my opponent!" She ordered.

Starr reluctantly agreed. He could see in Mirajane's eyes that she was serious about this and if anyone even tried interfering with her fight, she'd attack them as well. He sighed. "Alright… but let me do something first…" The blonde clapped his hand together and used them to strike the floor. "Star Dragon Magic: Energy Transfer!" A beam of light shot from a magic circle formed under Starr's hands and hit Mirajane. Starr stood back up and gave Mirajane a confident grin. "I just gave you part of my magic, now use it to kick his butt!"

Mirajane nodded. "Right" She pulled her arms up to her side and made them into fists, followed by taking a deep breath. She let out a loud scream as a large Dark Magic circle appeared over her head and underneath her feet and formed a cylinder of purple light around her. Everyone watched fearfully, except for Laxus and Starr, as Mirajane's appearance changes drastically into that of a demonic creature. Her hair went upwards and looked wilder than before. Her eyes narrowed and darkened, and a dark, crack-image appeared on her face running between her right eye. Her dress was replaced by a crimson, one-piece suit that showed much of her belly, back, and most of her breasts and cut off at her shoulders and at the beginning of her thighs with matching thigh-high boots and a light pink scarf tied around her neck. Her arms were covered in black scales and monstrous claws and she had sprouted a long, black, demonic tail and a pair of large bat-like wings.

"Aw man, haven't seen that in a while…" Elfman said, staring in awe at his sister's appearance.

Lucy's jaw was practically hitting the ground. "_That's_ the she-devil I've heard about? That's takes horrifying to a whole new level!"

The new Mirajane dispersed the light and glared evilly at Laxus. "Take Over: Satan's Soul," she said in a dark, ominous voice. The Satan Soul Mirajane then lunged at Laxus at Mach speed and sent him flying through the wall. Everyone but Natsu, Elfman and Starr ran through the gaping hole in the wall to get a better view of the action, the latter three were assisting Lisanna.

Starr kneeled down next to Lisanna and clapped his hands together. "Star Dragon Magic: Heal!" he shouted. A light blue Magic circle appeared in each of Starr's hands and he began waving them over Lisanna's body. He turned to Elfman while doing so. "Elfman, go check on the animals in the backroom, make sure that none of them got hurt!"

Elfman blinked. "Why? I want to be here for my sister!"

"Elfman, Lisanna loves the animals more than anything, and if she finds out that any of the animals got hurt on her watch she'll be crushed!"

Elfman grumbled and stood up. "Fine, but you better let me know the second she wakes up!" He ran behind the counter and into the backroom of the adoption center.

Starr then turned to Natsu. "Natsu, look behind the counter, there should be a blanket there."

Natsu nodded instantly and ran up to the counter, returning a few seconds later with a green, fleece blanket and threw it over Lisanna. Natsu kneeled down next to Starr and brushed some of the few strands of hair out of Lisanna's face and looked down at her unconscious face. A few tears escaped his eye lids and spilled down onto the floor. "Hang on, Lisanna, don't you dare leave me again… I won't let you…" he wept.

Meanwhile, Satan Soul Mirajane and Laxus were currently duking it out in the air, and it appeared to be a pretty even fight. Lucy and the rest were watching eagerly at the fight between the two former S-class mages battling hundreds of feet in the air.

"I can't believe that Mira is fighting Laxus toe-to-toe! I didn't even think that Erza could do that!" Lucy stated, eyes not even blinking.

Erza smiled proudly at Mirajane as she watched her friend and former rival match Laxus' attacks blow-for-blow. "Well, I'd expect nothing less from the she-devil, Mirajane. She was an S-class wizard long before I was, and she could match Laxus' strength, even back then" she said.

"DARKNESS STREAM!" Mirajane screamed, launching a blast of dark energy from her hands. The blast hit Laxus dead on and knocked him back several feat.

Laxus grumbled. "Oh yeah? Well let's see how you like this! Raging Bolt!" Laxus clenched his fists and held them out in front of his torso. Lightning formed in his fists and soon a large bolt of lightning descended from the sky down onto Mirajane. She let out a loud scream of pain.

"Oh no, Mira!" Gray shouted. He was about to get in on the action too, but Erza raised her hand in front of him, shaking her head.

"No, Gray, this is Mirajane's fight." Erza stated.

"But Erza! That jackass nearly raped Starr, and I want in on the action too!" Gray said angrily.

Erza clenched her fists angrily and pounded one into the other. "I'd like nothing more than to pummel Laxus to a pulp myself for all of the sick, horrible things he's done, but she wanted this fight to herself and, as her friends, we must respect her wishes…"

Gray, Lucy and Happy all reluctantly nodded and returned to watching the she-devil fight Laxus, as she had subsided the lightning and was flying at top speed after Laxus. She delivered to Laxus a double-handed fist over the head and sent him falling into the ground, resulting in the creation of a large crater.

Mirajane then held her hands next to her side and created a ball of dark energy. "Soul Extinction!" she yelled. She held the dark energy in front of her and it shot a large blast of black magic at Laxus in the ground, making a large cloud of dust form from the crater.

The she-devil then slowly flew down to the ground and breathed heavily. She then changed back into her normal form and collapsed on the ground. Everyone ran to help her.

Erza raised her up and let her rest on her chest. "You did great, Mira, I don't think I could have done a better job myself."

Lucy gave Mirajane a thumbs-up. "There's no way that Laxus could have stood up to that! I'd just like to see him stand up after all that!" she said confidently.

Unfortunately, Lucy was sadly mistaken. Laxus used his magic to blow away the dust. He slowly stood up and crawled out of the crater. His clothes were badly torn, but he himself was still in one piece. He was breathing heavily and struggling to keep his footing. "There is no way… No _WAY_ am I going to lose to anyone, much less _a girl_!" He screamed. He held his hands in front of his chest and started gathering Lightning magic in his palms.

Erza handed Mirajane off to Gray and Lucy stood in front of them all. "Laxus! Give it up already, you can't win!" She yelled, but Laxus didn't stop.

Erza grumbled and requiped her armor into a brand new set. This new armor was designed to look like the skin of a cheetah. She had two cheetah ears attached to her upper head and her chest was covered by a cheetah pattern breastplate that showed much of her breasts. Her arms were covered with arm-length navy gloves and her legs adorned matching stockings and silver shoes. The rest of her lower body consisted of black shorts and a green clothe around the waist held up by a thin brown belt. Her armor appeared to be more guarded on the left side of her body, rather than the right.

Erza, in her newly requiped armor, grabbed Lucy, Gray, Happy, and Mirajane and ran extremely fast in a different direction, just as Laxus had unleashed his bolt of lightning. The blast simply flew in a straight line until it hit the ground where the group of wizards were previously standing. Erza was so fast that it appeared as if she had made her and the others disappear.

Erza reappeared several meters away from Laxus. She sighed in relief. "Good thing I bought this Flight armor last week…"

The ice mage smiled at Erza. "Thanks, Erza. Man, Laxus just doesn't give up, does he?" Gray said, getting into a fighting stance. "Oh well, it's our turn now! ICE MAKE: LANCE!" he pressed his palms forward and several spears made entirely of ice shot from them, striking Laxus dead-on and sending him back a few feet.

Lucy pulled out a Celestial key. "Open! Gate of the Archer! Sagittarius! Shoot him down!"

The horse spirit saluted as it appeared before her. "Right away, my lady!" He raised his bow and shot several arrows at the lightning mage. All of those arrows knocked Laxus to the ground, though they didn't pierce any skin.

Erza requiped into her Heaven's Wheel armor and flew a short distance into the air. She raised her hands, holding a sword in each one, and readied herself for an attack. Her body was soon surrounded by a ring of swords. "Circle Sword!" she yelled, swinging her hand swords. The floating swords began spinning around her body until they became a blue ring and then being flung and crashed into Laxus.

Laxus coughed up a small amount of blood when he was hit by the Circle Sword attack. He was at a loss of breath for a short period of time. He looked evilly at the group of wizards, all of which were ready for a second round of attacks.

"Give it up, Laxus! You can't win here!" Lucy stated.

"We have you outnumbered and outgunned, you'd be smart to just give up and turn yourself in to the Rune Knights!" Erza said. "Now, if there isn't anything else, you'd best get out of our-"

"ICE MAKE: GEYSER!" Erza was cut off by Gray shouting and then creating a geyser of sharp and solid ice, arising from the ground under Laxus, sending him flying.

"Gray! What are you doing? We've won!" Happy stated.

The ice mage ignored the blue cat and then formed ice blades on his left elbow and right forearm. Happy and Lucy could both see that Gray's eyes had a look of wickedness and darkness in his eyes, one that no one had ever seen before. "ICE BLADE: SEVEN SLICE DANCE!" He sprung high into the air and spun next to Laxus, slashing him seven times. The last slash cut Laxus' cheek and made a small amount of his blood to spill onto Gray's chest. The ice blades shattered after the seventh slash. Gray raised his hands into the air. "ICE MAKE: HAMMER!" He hit Laxus over the head and sent him falling into the ground with a large blow.

"What's gotten into Gray?" Lucy asked. "He's acting like he's gone nuts!"

Erza grimaced. "He's still upset about what happened to Starr. If we don't stop him he might actually kill Laxus!" Erza flew off in the direction of Gray in an attempt to reach her friend before he did something he would regret. _'I hate Laxus just as badly as Gray does, but I could never kill anyone out of hatred, and I thought he couldn't either. What has gotten into him?'_ She thought.

Gray let out a loud scream. "ICE MAKE: DEATH SCYTHE!" He formed in his hands a scythe made of ice and fell as fast as he possibly could, all the while screaming, "YOU'RE FINISHED, LAXUS!"

Erza wasn't fast enough to catch up with Gray at this point, and requiping into her Flight armor would be pointless, because she needed to be on the ground for it to be effective. There was nothing more she could do. She slowed down and stopped in the air and she closed her eyes. She didn't want to witness what was about to happen…

Lucy watched in horror at the events that were about to take place. This wasn't the Gray that she knew. Gray wasn't the type to lose his cool out of hatred for anyone, as evident when he was fighting Lyon and he found out that the latter was aware of the effects of the Iced Shell spell and what happened to their teacher Ur. This had to be something more than hatred, but what could it be? She just couldn't think of a reasonable explanation of what was causing Gray's behaviour…

"Gray-chan, stop!"

Gray's sanity came back to his mind and he just narrowly avoided cutting Laxus' head wide open when he landed on the ground. He recognized the voice far too well. He slowly turned his head to see a crying boy watching him with a disappointed look on his face.

"S… Starr…"

"Gray-chan… please don't kill Laxus… please…" Starr wept. "I… I don't like Laxus anymore than you do… but killing him isn't the answer. I don't like his actions, not one bit, but… killing him won't make any difference, Gray-chan! Don't you see that? Laxus dying won't make his stupid choices go away!"

"But, Starr, he raped all those other people, and he nearly raped you! I'm just trying to prevent that from ever happening again! I don't want you to have to ever go through that, Starr! I… I care about you, a lot! I'll feel so much better once he'll never be able to hurt anyone like that again!"

"But, Gray-chan, don't you realize you're going about it the wrong way? Like you said to Erza, if you're hurting others to make yourself feel better, then you're no better than Laxus himself!"

The last bit of insanity in Gray's mind was lost, and it was replaced by sadness and shame_. 'Me… no better than Laxus?_' he asked himself in his head.

Just when Gray was about to respond, Laxus took this opportunity to escape by turning into lightning and fleeing, leaving Gray all alone with his ice death scythe in his hands. The name of the weapon kept on repeating his head on an endless loop.

'_Death scythe…'_

'_Death scythe…'_

'_Death…'_ the word 'scythe' suddenly stopped repeating itself, leaving only 'Death' to repeat in Gray's head. _'I almost killed Laxus… I almost killed…' _His hand ran up his chest, gathering up the blood from when he had cut Laxus' cheek. _'Blood… I shed blood…'_ He felt tears swell up in his eyes and spill onto his hands, rinsing away the blood.

Starr walked up to Gray and hugged him tightly. "Gray-chan, even if you did do what you did for the right intention, promise you won't ever try to kill again… please, promise me…" the blonde wept into the latter's chest.

Gray hugged Starr back. "I… I promise, Starr… I won't ever try to kill a person... not even Laxus…" His grip on Starr grew tighter, as if just mentioning that name was going to bring back his destructive ways, and Gray was doing what he could to shield Starr. Yet, Gray's grip seemed soft, making it apparent that his anger was completely washed away by Starr's touch. But the most touching thing that made this sight one to behold was that, not only was Starr blushing – not a surprising sight, given Starr's feelings towards Gray – but Gray was actually blushing as well.

While everyone smiled at the warm spectacle of Starr and Gray hugging and crying, that was when Gray's anger and aggression became so much clearer to Erza and Lucy.

'_Gray is starting to develop feelings for Starr!_' the both thought at the same time.

After clearing up all of the mess that was left from the battle, Starr lead Mirajane and the others inside the adoption center. They were greeted with a pleasant sight that was Lisanna sleeping peacefully with her head resting on Natsu's lap, with the latter trying his hardest not to cry again out of happiness. All of the wounds that were formed from when Laxus attacked her were now nothing but a bad memory. She had a pleasant look on her face, like she was having a pleasant dream.

"Oh, Lisanna…" Mirajane said happily, sinking to her knees, tears building up in her eyes. "Thank goodness you're ok."

Starr nodded. "Yep, she'll be fine once she wakes up… what I'd like to know is if she'd remember anything. All of Laxus' lightning magic was sent directly into Lisanna's head, and I did what I could, but I can't do much on brains. We're just going to have to wait until she wakes up to see if her memory has been altered…"

Everyone surrounded Lisanna and no one could take their eyes off of their injured friend. While they were sad that Lisanna was injured on Laxus' account, they were at the same time happy to see that Lisanna was alive and breathing. They all prayed for the best and hoped she was having a pleasant dream…

***Lisanna's dream* (Lisanna's POV)**

_I looked around. I was surrounded by nothing but white fog and a dark sky. I didn't know where anyone was, or where I was either._

_Suddenly, I started hearing voices. "Lisanna! Wake up!" It was a deep, masculine voice._

"_Please don't leave us again, Lisanna!" This voice was high and feminine._

"_Hang on, Lisanna, don't you dare leave me again… I won't let you…" I could tell that this voice was from a teenage boy._

_Both of these voices sound familiar, but I just can't remember who they belong to. Why can't I remember? I want to remember! Will someone please tell me who these voices belong to?!_

_Out of nowhere, a giant lacrima appeared in front of me. It showed me an image of myself a few years ago, standing next to a girl with long hair tied up in a ponytail, the same shade of white as mine. She was wearing a skimpy, tight, purple tank top, black short-shorts and full-leg heel boots. _

"_Come on, Lisanna, we have a job to do!" She said. "I can't let Erza get ahead of me!" Erza…? That sounds familiar too, who is she?_

"_Coming, Mira-nee!" I saw myself reply. Mira-nee… that means 'Big Sister Mira, which means… I have a sister?_

_Then, the image on the lacrima changed to show me as a child – I'm guessing, we have the same hair color and eyes – standing next to a boy with white spikey hair and wearing a blue suit, kneeling next to a small tombstone and crying. _

_The me in the lacrima put a hand on the boy's shoulder. "Come on, please try to cheer up…" 'I' said, sympathetically._

_The boy wiped the tears out of his eyes. "No, I can't… my parakeet's dead and it's all my fault…" he wept._

"_No it's not, you had nothing to do with it. Even though it makes us sad, all living things have to die eventually…"_

"_R-Really? Every living thing has to die?"_

"_It's sad, but it's just the way life works… Don't worry, your friend will always be with you, he'll always live on your heart as long as you remember him… So don't cry, Elf-nii-chan…"_

_Elf-nii-chan… he's my big brother? So, I have a big sister and a big brother, huh? This is great! But who's this… Erza, uh, 'Mira-nee' was talking about? _

_The lacrima changed the image once again. It showed Mira-nee again, glaring daringly at a young girl with scarlet-red hair braided into a pony tail. She was wearing a large armor chest plate over a white shirt and a red necktie. She also adorned a long, white skirt held up by a brown belt, which also held a sword in its sheath, brown, heeled boots and blue, knee-length socks. _

_The girl with red hair was standing next to two boys and a girl, all of them about her age. One of them had black, spikey hair, and he was wearing nothing more than a pair of navy-blue boxers. The other had pink hair that was spiked all over the place and he was wearing a red button-up shirt, tan shorts with brown pockets on the side, and brown boots. He had a peach-colored sash tied around his waist and a white scarf with black vertical and horizontal stripes, made to look like scales around his neck. The girl had brown hair tied into a ponytail. She was wearing an orange dress with red straps and matching flats._

"_I've been looking for you, Erza~!" Mira-nee shouted. She waved her hand at the girl, gesturing her to get closer. Oh, so _that's_ Erza! "Why don't we pick up where we left of?"_

_I saw myself sitting at a table across from, uh, Elf-nii-chan. "You're gonna fight again?" 'I' asked._

_Erza grinned. "Mira… now that you mention it, we never did finish our match, did we?" she said confidently. Mira-nee smirked._

_The two girls lunged at each other, hands already in fists. _

"_I'M GONNA BURY YOU ALIVE!" Mira-nee shouted loudly._

"_I'M GONNA MAKE YOU BEG FOR MERCY!" Erza yelled, just as loud._

_Their fists collided in mid-air. Mira-nee then hit Erza with a back kick and sent her flying. "Is that armor your training bra?" she asked tauntingly._

_Erza turned around and punched Mira-nee just as hard as her kick. "You like showing off your love handles?" she answered back. The two continued to go at each other, while at the same time yelling various insults at each other. _

_The black-haired boy looked over at the girl in the orange dress. "How long to do think their fight will last this time, Cana?" Cana…_

_Cana shrugged. "I don't know, Gray… Even with clairvoyance, Erza and Mirajane's fights are unpredictable…" Cana…_

_Yeah, I think I remember some things now. The girl with red hair is Erza, uh, what's her last name… Scarlet, right? And she and Mira-nee were always fighting, practically every day. And those kids are Gray Fullbuster and Cana Alberona! The place they were fighting in was the Wizard Guild I used to be in… but I still don't remember what the name is... And then, while Erza and Mira-nee were fighting, I went to talk to the boy with pink hair. He brought some giant egg into the guild that he found in the forest. He said it was the egg of a… I can't remember… _

_I looked back up at the lacrima in hopes of getting the answers I need. It changed to a different scene, one with me and the pink-haired boy sitting in a straw hut along with that egg. Ugh! I wish that I could just remember his name…_

_I saw my younger self giggle. "It's almost like we're a family now, huh?" she suggested._

"_How do you figure?" the boy asked._

_The younger me smiled and put a hand on the egg. "Well, you've got a mommy and a daddy, and the egg is like our little baby that hasn't been born yet…"_

_The boy blushed. He gave younger me a goofy grin. "I guess that doesn't sound so bad…"_

_The younger me blushed as well. She wrapped her arms around the egg. "How about we try warming the egg together?"_

_The boy nodded. "Alright…" he stood up and wrapped his arms around the top of the egg and hugged it. I saw him sneak a peek at younger me before he closed his eyes, still blushing._

_Aw, that little boy is so sweet… and he's kind of cute too… Just who is he?_

_The image changed again so that it showed the two of us walking through a forest. The boy pointed to a tree with two pictures tied to it, still holding the egg in his arm. "The egg fell out of that tree when I punched it" the boy stated._

"_I see…"_

_Suddenly, there was a loud pound in the ground behind them. The two turned around and were faced with… a Forest Vulcan. As much as I love animals, Vulcans are the exception. They're mean, they're obnoxious, and they always cause trouble for other people. Honestly, I hate them…_

"_Give me the egg, boy…" The Vulcan ordered._

_He handed the egg to me. "Yeah, fat chance!" he yelled. "You really wanna eat something, then how 'bout my fist!" he ran up and punched the Vulcan in the stomach. _

_The Vulcan chuckled. "That kinda tickled."_

_The boy started randomly punching the Vulcan with an annoyed look on his face. "You asked for it!"_

_The Vulcan swiped him away and sent him bouncing all around the forest before falling to the ground in front of me with several bumps on his head. I was screaming the entire time._

"_You're hurt, let me help you!" Younger me offered._

_The boy slowly stood up from the ground. "No, just stay back," he mumbled._

"_But why?"_

_He got ready to face the Vulcan again. "'Cause I'm the dad, and I gotta protect my family… That's the job of a Fairy Tail Wizard!"_

"_Natsu…" …Natsu? Fairy Tail…? …That's it! Natsu! Natsu Dragneel! I can't believe I forgot about him! I… I'm so glad I can finally remember everyone. Mira-nee, Elf-nii-chan, Erza, Cana, Gray… and Natsu too, I can't believe I could ever forget anyone in Fairy Tail… or that I was actually _in_ Fairy tail! I'm so happy I could cry!_

_The lacrima changed again, so now I was watching myself and Natsu running towards the straw hut in the pouring rain. Natsu had the egg tucked under his shirt to keep it from the rain. Just as they were about to go in, I saw myself stopping Natsu. "Hold on a sec," she said and then rain inside the hut. I took a seat on the bed and motioned for Natsu to come in. "Alright, come in!"_

_Natsu walked inside as well, muttering "What's with her?" under his breath._

_I smiled at him. "Welcome back, dear!"_

_Natsu gave me a blank stare. "Oh, uh… what?"_

_I was giving him a pouting face. "I said… '_Welcome back, dear!'_"_

_Natsu blushed, finally getting the message. "Oh…" he pulled the egg out from under his shirt. "Hi, honey, I'm home…?"_

_I giggled and blushed as well. _

_The two spent the time talking about what's going to happen after the egg hatches. Natsu thought that a dragon was going to hatch out of the egg, since the blue strokes on the shell looked like dragon claws and that Natsu was raised by a dragon, but younger me just laughed at him, telling him he was ridicules._

_I kind of remember that I used to have a bit of a crush on Natsu when I was a kid. He always acted like a tough guy, but when we were raising the egg he had such a soft and sweet side to him. He even cuddled the egg and talked to it in 'Baby Talk'. I apparently had to try really hard not to laugh at him._

"_It's been fun playing house with you, Natsu…" 'I' said, blushing. I remember what I was about to say. I said it to see how Natsu would handle the idea of us together. "Maybe someday I could be your… real wife?"_

_Natsu blushed wildly and he stared at me like I was crazy. "Wha… What got you thinking about that?" he stuttered._

_I put my hands on my cheeks. "Well, I just noticed how strong and brave you are, and you're good with kids too. What's not to like?"_

"_U-Uh… you think so…?" Natsu's face grew bright red, to a point where his ears were actually blowing steam. He looked so embarrassed, ha ha!_

"_What are you getting so embarrassed about?" younger me asked teasingly. "I was just making a joke." _

_Natsu's jaw dropped. "NOT FUNNY, LISANNA!" he screamed childishly._

_I laughed. I remember that day now, that was the day I realized that… I love Natsu. He was always so macho and tough, but when we were raising that egg I learned how sweet and sensitive he could be. I used to love teasing him all the time, and he'd get so embarrassed and pouty about it._

_The image changed once again. Natsu and younger me were back at the guild. Everyone was huddled around the egg, which had cracked and started floating into the air, radiating light-blue light. The egg soon shattered into millions of pieces and the light dispersed, revealing a small blue cat with tiny white wings sprouting from its back. It let out a high-pitched "Mew!" and started flapping its wings and flying. It landed on Natsu's head, and then its wings disappeared. It sat up and said "AYE!"_

_My younger self smiled at it. "It's so cute!" she said. _

_The guild mates spent a while passing the cat around, until it eventually landed back in the custody of Natsu and myself. Younger me looped her arm around Natsu and pulled him in close. "Do you see that?" she asked. "Just a minute ago, everyone here was all worked up, and now they're happy." The two looked down at the cat in Natsu's arms. "He's almost like a bluebird of happiness, huh?"_

"_Happiness, huh? Well…" Natsu looked down at the cat in his arms and smiled warmly, "in that case, I'll name him Happy!"_

_The cat kicked its arms and legs in the air and said "Aye!" once more, as if to accept 'Happy' as its name._

_The crystal lacrima changed the image, for what I hoped was the last time. It showed me, Natsu and Happy in Magnolia Park, him and Happy sitting under a large tree. From the looks of it, it appeared that the image was from just before I lost my memory, when we were both around 15 or so years old. I then saw Mira-nee and Elf-nii-chan walk up to us._

"_Come on, Lisanna, let's go, we gotta get to work," Elf-nii-chan called out._

_I turned around. "What? We just finished a job, can't we take a break?" I asked._

"_Yeah, but it's an S-class quest. Mirajane wants us to go along and help her out with it."_

_Natsu stood up and gawked at Elf-nii-chan. "NO WAY! Totally unfair!" he yelled. _

"_What kind of job is it?" Happy asked._

"_An emergency request, it just came in," Mira-nee replied. "They want us to kill off this monster called 'The Beast.' Hey, you wanna come with us, Natsu? You might learn a thing or two…" Her tone implied she was being sarcastic and just plain teasing him._

"_Do what?" Elf-nii-chan asked loudly. "I don't want him tagging along! I'm the man in this family and I can protect you on my own!"_

"_WHAA?! Come on, why you gotta hog all the fun? TAKE ME WITH YOU!" Natsu whined. _

_I laughed. "Don't worry, Natsu, you'll be going on S-class quests before you know it," I teased. "I'll be back in a little while, alright?" Mira-nee and Elf-nii-chan started walking away already, leaving me, Natsu and Happy behind._

_Natsu was blushing and looked away. "Alright, but when you get back… can we talk? I have something I wanna tell you…"_

_I blushed back and nodded. "Of course, Natsu, you can tell me anything. I'll see you first thing when I get back." Of course, I never did get back…_

_The lacrima sunk back into the ground, but I didn't need it anymore. I remember what happened to me now. Elf-nii-chan tried to take over The Beast after it attacked Mira-nee, but he lost control of it and ended up making it stronger. I tried to talk to him to get him to come to his senses, but he swiped me with his hand and sent me flying into the next mountain range over. That's when Starr found me…_

_I have to wake up now, I have to see Mira-nee, and Elf-nii-chan, and Erza, Gray, Cana… and Natsu. I have to know what he was going to tell me! I need to know! _

"_NATSU~!" I screamed._

**(End of Dream) *Normal POV***

"Natsu…" Lisanna stirred in her sleep.

Everyone gathered around Natsu and Lisanna, as the latter had suddenly started moving in her sleep. Her eyes began twitching and they slowly opened up, so that everyone could see her beautiful blue eyes. Natsu and the Strauss siblings got closer than the rest of the group and prayed this wasn't a crazy dream.

"Lisanna…?" Elfman asked, taking his baby sister's hand.

Lisanna slowly sat up and looked at her brother. "Elf-nii-chan…?" she then looked over at Mirajane. "Mira-nee…?" she asked them both quietly.

Mirajane and Elfman started crying, tears spilling over their eyelids, down their faces and onto the floor. They jumped to hug their sister, all the while practically screaming her name through their sobbing.

The very sight of them was enough to make everyone tear up as well, especially Natsu. His tears were coming out practically in buckets, and they were dripping down into Lisanna's hair. He hugged her from behind and fought with Mirajane and Elfman to hold her closest. "Don't you ever leave us again, Lisanna…" he whispered into her ear.

Lisanna heard him loud and clear and she turned to face him, giving him a reassuring nod.

After all the reunions and acquaintances had been made with Lisanna, everyone helped her get back up to her room to rest. Everyone was either standing around her bed or they were sitting on it around her. Natsu was sitting right up by her head.

"Lisanna, when did you get your memory back?" Starr asked. "I thought you forgot everything after what happened."

Lisanna shrugged. "I don't know, everything just came back to me when I blacked out," she answered. "When I was dreaming, I saw some things from my past through some sort of lacrima and it all came back to me."

Erza cupped her chin, thoughtfully. "Maybe, when Laxus used his lightning magic on Lisanna's head, it jogged her memory by sending shockwaves through her brain," she suggested. "The brain _is_ a series of electrical currents, so it's possible that using electricity caused Lisanna's memory to return…"

"So… you're saying that Laxus… actually helped us?" Lucy asked, dumbfounded by the irony.

Erza nodded, shuddering slightly. "As much as I hate to admit it, we do owe Laxus _some_ gratitude… a small amount though…"

Mirajane hugged her sister once more. "I don't care, I'm just so happy to see my baby sister again…"

"Lisanna, I am so sorry for everything I did!" Elfman said, clenching his fist. "If I hadn't taken over The Beast then-"

"Don't worry about it, Elf-nii-chan," Lisanna cut her brother off. "You did what you could to try to protect Mira-nee, it wasn't your fault that you couldn't control the beast. I forgive you, Elf-nii-chan."

Elfman started to tear up again, shortly followed by a long and loud bawling.

"And besides, if Elf-nii-chan hadn't made me lose my memory, I wouldn't be able to give this to Starr…" Lisanna reached over to her bedside table and opened the drawer. She then pulled out something that surprised everyone, Lucy and Starr especially… a golden Zodiac Gate key. "Here you go, Starr. I found this in the adoption a few months ago after your last visit. I did some research on it and, if I'm right, it's the goat spirit, Capricorn." She handed the key over to Starr, who held the key in the palm of his hand in awe.

He carefully examined the key. "Yep, this is the real Capricorn key… and you're giving it to me?"

Lisanna nodded, giving the blonde boy a warm smile. "Of course, consider it a thank you for helping me."

Starr held the key for a few more seconds before smiling and winking back. "Thanks a lot, Lisanna."

The Star Dragon Slayer looked over at Natsu and saw a small ping of jealousy and annoyance starting to build up in his eyes. He looked over at the rest of the group. "Hey, guys, let's go outside and I'll let you all watch me make my contract with Capricorn."

Everyone agreed and headed for the door. Before closing the door behind him, Starr looked back at Natsu and winked at him. Natsu nodded, giving Starr a reassuring smile.

Natsu turned around to look into Lisanna's eyes, an embarrassed and shy look spread all over his face. Lisanna simply sat in her bed and blushed as she looked deeply into Natsu's wonderful onyx eyes. The Dragon Slayer just stood still for a while, trying to come up with the right words to choose.

"L-Lisanna… about what I was… going t-to tell you… before…" Natsu stuttered. The fire mage's cheeks were so red that you'd think he was eating fire like usual.

Lisanna could see how hard Natsu was trying to say what he wanted to say and smiled. This was the sensitive side of Natsu that she had missed so much. She giggled. "Yes, Natsu~?" she said, slowly.

Natsu slowly took Lisanna's hand and looked her in the eye, all the while shaking, as if Erza was glaring him down with a sword in her hand. "Li-Lisanna… I just… wanted to tell you that… I… I love you. I-I've been in love with you ever since we were raising Happy's egg. I loved how you were willing to help someone like me, someone that couldn't do anything but break things left and right, bring a new life into our world… You made my day brighter in every way, even on my darkest days-"

"Natsu, do yourself a favour and quit being so cheesy," Lisanna cut him off. "You're trying to be a romantic person, and I appreciate the effort… but it's not you, not the you I remember anyway. Just save yourself the embarrassment and struggle and just come out with it."

Natsu let out a sigh of relief and tilted his head back. "Thank you so much!" he exclaimed.

Lisanna laughed. "You're welcome."

Natsu looked into Lisanna's eyes and gave her a confident smile. "Lisanna… I love you… will you go out with me? …And please say yes, otherwise I'll probably go back to being cheesy again…"

Lisanna laughed again and planted a quick, gentle kiss on Natsu's warm, luscious lips. "Of course I will, Natsu."

Natsu started smiling like the big goofball he was and afterwards passed out on the floor, still grinning like an idiot. Lisanna gave her new boyfriend one more laugh before she fell back onto her pillow, falling back into a deep sleep.

This had been an eventful day for Lisanna. She started it off like any other day, but after a psychopathic man paid her a visit and sent a million bolts of electricity into her head, she remembered everything about her past that she thought was lost forever. Now, she remembered her brother, her sister, all of Fairy Tail, and especially her boyfriend that was currently passed out on the floor. She could not be any happier than right now if she tried.


	9. Jellal and The Valley of Thunder part 1

**Hey guys, Digidestined Boy 15 here. First off, I'd just like to say how sorry I am that I haven't updated this story for so long, but I couldn't think of anything after the last battle with Laxus. But I got my inspiration back! And I'm happy to announce that there will be Jerza in the later chapters as well as NaLi, LoLu and GrayStarr. I hope you all enjoy!**

**-x~X~x-**

After Starr and the others had reunited with Lisanna, the group headed back to Magnolia. Not wanting to leave the place unattended, Lisanna handed over ownership of the Adoption Center to one of her most trusted workers, not even hesitating, eager to return to her true home. She stayed in town overnight, along with the others, to say goodbye to her current friends, packed her things in record time, and the next morning, all of the Fairy Tail wizards were on a train, bound for Magnolia.

The entire train ride back, Lisanna sat between Elfman and Natsu, with Mirajane right across from her, the three often rotating in taking turns sitting next to her. While Lisanna explained about what she'd been doing for the last two years, away from Fairy Tail, she also spent some times bonding with Lucy. The two became fast friends, finding that talking about how big of a goofball Natsu was, and still is, and finding it hilarious… not so much for Natsu, though. Mirajane and Starr stated that Lisanna always had that effect on people: that everyone wanted to be her friend.

The second Lisanna stepped into the guild, there wasn't a dry eye in any corner of the building. Everyone rushed up to her and took turns crying and laughing over Lisanna's return, each receiving a warm hug from the white-haired wizard herself.

Lucy even summoned Loke from the spirit world to join in on the reunion, and said lion spirit greeted Lisanna the same way he greeted any girl… by flirting with her like the ladies' man he was. And Natsu had responded in a mature and rational way, like any good boyfriend would… by slugging Loke across the face with one of his Fire Dragon Iron Fists. At that point, with the giant Loke-sized hole in the wall that Starr was going to have to repair later, Lucy took him back to her and Starr's house.

The rest of the day was spent re-welcoming Lisanna back into Fairy Tail. Master Makarov even started a party in the guild hall in celebration of her return, which all of the wizards agreed to instantly.

The music was blaring, the lights were flashing, and everyone was dancing. Natsu, Mirajane and Elfman, of course, all took turns dancing with Lisanna, and Starr and Gray were dancing side-by-side with each other. Erza on the other hand, she just sat in the corner of the guild hall with a saddened look on her face. She had dispelled her armor, so she was just sitting in her normal white blouse, blue skirt and boots.

It became clear to her that she didn't have anyone to dance with. All of her friends were already dancing with someone else. A few of the other guys had asked to dance, even some of the girls, but she declined them all. There was only one person that she wanted to dance with, someone she wasn't sure was even alive or not, a boy who she'd grown fond of in her childhood, despite his horrific actions only a few months ago…

…Jellal.

It was no secret to anyone in Fiore that Jellal had nearly resurrected the dark wizard, Zeref, and that he tried to use Erza as a sacrifice. Had it not been for Natsu, he would have succeeded, and brought back to life the person who could easily destroy Fiore and all of its inhabitants, single-handedly. Even through all of this, Erza couldn't help but care so deeply for this man. After all, it wasn't really his fault. Jellal was being controlled by the spirit of Zeref, even since he was a kid, so it was no wonder he wanted to resurrect the mad-man.

Even so, Jellal is still on the top of a very long list of wizards on Fiore's most-wanted criminals for his actions. So even if he was alive, he'd still be arrested the minute the Rune Knights found out where he was, and he'd likely be locked up in jail forever, if not, executed.

Erza sighed. She remembered when she used to see him smiling everyday as a kid, and not maniacally like he did several months ago. The way he smiled just gave her so much strength and confidence. It was the only thing that got her through working on the Tower of Heaven with him and her other friends.

The requip mage reached into her blouse and pulled out a ring on a silver chain. The ring was a simple piece of iron, and much too small for her hands now, but it had a small ruby attached to it. She smiled in the memory of the day Jellal had given it to her.

It was back in the Tower of Heaven, while the two of them were still slaves to the followers of Zeref. The two of them had just finished their shifts, working on the tower's completion, and Erza and Jellal were all alone in their holding cell, lying up against the wall. Sho and the others had gone to get dinner, promising to bring some back for them.

"_Hey, Erza…" _Jellal spoke.

Erza tiredly gave him a weak smile._ "Yeah? What is it Jellal?" _she asked.

"_Do you know what today is?"_

Erza thought for a moment, but then shook her head._ "Nope, what's today?"_

_Jellal grinned. "It's been exactly 1 year, today since we first met here."_

Erza's eyes widened slightly and she sat upright_. "You really kept track of all those days since we met?"_

Jellal laughed._ "Nope, but I needed an excuse so I could give you this." _The blue-haired boy reached into his pocket and pulled out a poorly made iron ring with a small ruby attached to it. He gave Erza a warm smile and held the ring out to her._ "I found this ruby a few days ago and it reminded me of you, 'cause of your hair, so I made a ring out of some iron and put the ruby on it. Go ahead, take it."_

Erza didn't know what to do or say. Jellal had made her a ring, out of materials that the followers of Zeref had told everyone to deliver right to them if they were found, or face severe punishment. He risked his own safety just to make that ring for her._ "Jellal… it's beautiful…" _Erza said, a small blush painted on her cheeks.

"_Well, a beautiful girl deserves a beautiful ring, and this is about as good as it gets around these parts."_

Erza's blush grew stronger, but she smiled. She was going to treasure that ring forever._ "That's so sweet, Jellal, can you put it on me?" _Erza raised her left hand up to Jellal. He nodded and slid the ring onto her ring finger, a little disappointed that it was slightly too big, but happy that Erza enjoyed it so much. Just as Erza was about to pull her hand back, Jellal took the opportunity to take hold of it and plant a gentle kiss on the back of it. Erza's blush intensified greatly. She was greatly embarrassed, but at the same time ecstatic. She pulled her hand back, and held it close to her, admiring the ring on her finger, and the fact that Jellal had just kissed it.

That's when Grandpa Rob and the others returned with food for them to eat. They asked if anything interesting had happened between the two while they were gone. Simon seemed particularly interested in the question Erza looked at Jellal, who only smiled back at her. The two of them said, at the same time,_ "Nothing!"_

After that, Erza did everything she could to make sure that the followers of Zeref never saw her ring, for they would surely take it if they found out. Fortunately for her, they never found out, and she'd managed to keep it all these years. After she was freed from the Tower of Heaven and joined Fairy Tail, she bought a chain and hung the ring around her neck.

Erza smiled at the memories. Even though her childhood was a living hell, she still had some wonderful memories of her time in the Tower of Heaven. However, she was still upset that she may never see Jellal again, and she let a few stray tears escape her eye lids.

"Erza, are you ok?" a familiar voice asked.

Erza looked up to see that it was Starr that spoke to her, and Natsu, Happy, Lisanna, Mirajane, Elfman, and Gray were with him. She quickly wiped away the tears in her eyes and faked a smile at them. "Oh, yeah, I'm fine everyone…" she lied.

"Erza, you've been staring at that ring for the past ten minutes, and you were crying over it," Natsu pointed out. "Where did you get that anyway?"

Erza looked away. "…I got it from Jellal…" she said quietly.

That was when everyone, other than Lisanna and Starr, knew that they should back away and leave Erza alone. The latter two were dragged away from Erza before they could question as to who Jellal was, or what connection he had to her.

When they were a safe enough distance away from Erza that she couldn't hear them, Starr and Lisanna asked about Jellal, and the others told them about their past childhood and about what happened a few months ago with him. Needless to say, they were shocked. They'd never known Erza to be so fragile and caring about anyone, a known criminal like Jellal especially, so when they found out they remained silent.

"…Wow…" Was all Lisanna could muster up.

"I-I never knew Erza… had it so tough as a kid…" Starr said, looking down in despair.

Natsu nodded. "Yep, out of all of us Fairy Tail wizards, she had the worst childhood," he said. "She worked as a slave for a good part of it, and, when they tried to rebel, she had to watch her friends get hurt…"

"Not to mention that Jellal, her best friend as a kid, was turned into a crazy psychopath by the spirit of Zeref and nearly made her into a living sacrifice," Gray explained further. "If it weren't for Natsu, Erza wouldn't even be alive now…"

"And now, we don't even know where Jellal is to question him, or if he's even alive. I'm almost positive that, even after all of the things he's done, nearly killing her and her friends, she still loves the kind boy that she knew as a child…"

Much like with Natsu and Lisanna, it was no secret to anyone in Fairy Tail that Erza deeply loved Jellal, despite his crimes. There were often days when Erza would unconsciously mutter Jellal's name. Other times she'd be looking at the ring around her neck. No one knew the story behind it, but they knew from the look in her eye that Erza held that ring more precious to her than anything else in the world.

Starr wanted to help his friends. He did it for almost everyone now. He'd been helping Lucy pay rent since he arrived in Magnolia. He helped Natsu and Lisanna find each other and get together. He'd helped Happy find a place Natsu didn't know about that was filled with delicious fish. He'd even helped Mirajane with customers on busy days when she needed it. Starr loved to help the people close to him, it made him feel good, and that's exactly what he planned to do with Erza…

The Star Dragon Slayer turned around and walked back to the table where Erza was still seated, ignoring Gray and the others' warnings. He looked Erza directly in the eye with a look of confidence. "Erza, I think I can help you find Jellal," he said, free of hesitation.

Everyone gasped, Erza included. No one ever thought that, since the Tower of Heaven, anyone other than Erza could mention Jellal's name and not have their head cut off in an instant. But no, Starr's head was still attached to his body, even after almost a full minute of silence from everyone.

Erza's voice was the first to break the silence. "You… You're serious?" she asked, eyes wide as plates, looking like they were about to burst into tears.

Starr nodded. "I think so," he replied. "One of the types of magic I know is called 'Locator Magic,' which can be used to track someone down, no matter where they are. I only need something with the DNA of the person I'm looking for… and if you're ring was made by Jellal, than it might still have some of-" Starr was cut off when Erza practically ripped the ring off the chain and shoved it into his palm.

"I don't care what you have to do, just find him!" Erza said assertively, trying not to cry anymore than she already had. "Please… please find him, Starr… please…"

Starr nodded, and held the ring in between both of his hands. Everyone surrounded the boy and watched closely as he began to concentrate his magical energy into his hands. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes to further this power. A bright, orange light began to shine in the form of a sphere around Starr's hands, then flowing like a stream into Starr's head.

A minute later, Starr opened his eyes, giving everyone around a confident smile. "Found him. It's feint, but I'm still getting a signal, which means he's alive."

Everyone gasped once again.

"Well don't just stand there, man, tell us where he is!" Natsu exclaimed.

"He's in a place called… The Valley of Lightning."

Suddenly, Erza's excitement turned to fear, as did everyone else's.

The Valley of Lightning was located far outside Clover Town, through a harsh desert. Further ahead, there is a wide, open valley with a small temple in the center, where thunder clouds were always dropping lightning down, giving it the name "The Valley of Lightning." These aren't the only reasons why The Valley of Lightning is so feared, it's also because it is where Laxus, as well as the Thunder Legion, can often be found while they train.

Erza clenched her fists with anguish. "Of all the places in Fiore, why did it have to be The Valley of Lightning?" she muttered bitterly.

Gray scowled. "I'll bet that Laxus' been there this whole time… and you know how much Laxus enjoys toying with people… literally…" he stated, refraining from punching a wall in anger at the very mention of Laxus' name.

Starr's eyes widened. He knew first-hand what Laxus was capable of if no one stopped him. He nearly lost his innocence that night, and had it not been for Lucy and Cana, it would have been long gone. And with Jellal, probably still weakened from his battle with Natsu, he would make easy prey for someone as sick as Laxus. He'll either rape him or just beat him to a bloody pulp, probably both.

He'd love to rescue Jellal for Erza, but if Laxus was involved, then it would be a lot more difficult than he would prefer. Last time, they had Mirajane to help beat Laxus, but something told him that Erza had to do this on her own, and even she barely stood half a chance against him. If only there was a way to avoid Laxus altogether…

Suddenly, Starr had an idea. "I'll be right back, guys…" he said, before running in the direction of the bar, where Master Makarov was.

A minute or two later, Starr returned, holding something in the palm of his hand, and everyone was curious about what it was.

"Whatcha got there, Starr?" Natsu asked, eyeing the boy's closed hand with curiosity.

Starr smiled and opened his palm, revealing to everyone a silver ring with the insignia of a lightning bolt engraved into it. "I got this ring from the Master, he said that Laxus used to wear it," he replied.

After he and Makarov battled after he got thrown out of Fairy Tail, Laxus threw the ring at him before leaving. The ring was originally given to him as a birthday present by his Grandfather, sometime in his childhood, and he gave it back as a way of destroying his ties with Fairy Tail and his Grandfather, once and for all.

Gray grinned. "I get it. Since it's Laxus' ring, you can use the DNA left on it to track him down, and make sure he's nowhere near The Valley of Lightning, am I right?" he asked.

Starr giggled and grinned back. "Exactly right, Gray-chan!" he said, still happy as ever to call him as such. The Star Dragon Slayer closed his hand again and placed his other hand over it. He repeated the same process he did before – closing his eyes and pouring magic into the ring – and then, when he finished, he sighed in relief. "Good, Laxus is somewhere in a remote area of Fiore that's nowhere near The Valley of Lightning. He's probably still recovering from his battle with Mirajane, he did take quite a beating after all."

Everyone matched Starr's sighs with their own.

Natsu punched his fists excitedly. "Alright then, I say we go rescue Jellal from The Valley of Lightning and bring him back here!" he shouted.

Erza shook her head. "No, Natsu, only Starr and I are going, the rest of you are staying here," she ordered.

Gray flinched. "No way, Erza! Let us help you!" he yelled. "You can't go to The Valley of Thunder alone! Even if Laxus isn't there, The Thunder Legion might be, and we don't have any way of knowing! And Laxus might recover fast enough that he'll just zap himself over there in an instant."

"Then I'll beat them all myself if I have to! Laxus included!" the red-head screamed, startling everyone within hearing distance. Everyone could see that Erza was still on the verge of tears, which only shocked them more, and quieted down. "Starr and I are going to The Valley of Thunder and the rest of you are to stay behind and watch over the guild. That's an order!"

Reluctantly, the group of wizards nodded. Everyone knew better than to try and fight Erza – in any sense of the word – for it would be a battle that would be surely lost, and anyone foolish to try would regret it immensely.

"Alright, if you're going, at least stay in Magnolia for the night," Gray suggested. "That way you can get a good night's sleep before you head out, same for Starr. Enjoy the party and then head out in the morning."

Erza relaxed her muscles and nodded reluctantly. The redhead was perfectly fine to go, but she could tell that Gray was saying this more for Starr's sake, and less for hers. He'd become really protective of Starr since he was more-or-less forced to admit his feelings for the Ice Mage, and she could respect that.

"Fine, we'll set off for The Valley of Thunder tomorrow morning. In the meantime, I'm going to go home and pack, you guys enjoy the party…" Erza took back her ring from Starr and ran out of the guild hall, her eyes finally giving way and streaming tears of joy as she left.

Starr decided to leave shortly after Erza left, so that he could pack for the trip as well and get some much needed rest. The Valley of Thunder was quite a ways away from Magnolia, and even by train it would still take at least a day or two to get there. Not to mention that there might be Laxus or The Thunder Legion to deal with, and Starr wanted to be ready for it.

He opened the door to the house and walked in, slipped his shoes off and walked upstairs to his room. He packed his bag with enough supplied for the trip and then left his bag outside his room so he wouldn't forget it.

Just as he was about to collapse on his bed, he thought it would be a good idea to let Lucy know about his trip with Erza, and that he was leaving in the morning. So he walked out of his room and opened the door to Lucy's room.

"Lucy, I need to talk to y-AHHH!" he screamed out of shock.

He was surprised to see Lucy, lying under Loke, both topless and making out with each other. The way they were doing it so expertly, it let Starr know that they had done this often before… it suddenly explained why Starr often heard creaks coming from Lucy's room in the middle of the night, he just assumed that Lucy was a restless sleeper.

After a minute of Starr gawking at Loke and Lucy, they noticed the shocked, blonde boy standing in the door frame and jumped off of each other. Lucy was red in the face and trying to cover her exposed breasts, while Loke just sat there with a goofy grin on his face.

"Guess our secret's out, huh?" Loke said, letting out an embarrassed laugh.

Suddenly, the spirit and mage duo heard the sound of something heavy hitting the floor – hard – and saw that Starr had passed out from shock, and even had a trickle of blood running from his nose down his cheek from seeing someone as hot and well-built as Loke shirtless.

Lucy gave her lover a stern glare, still hugging her breasts shyly. "You see, this is exactly why I told you we should keep 'us' a secret…" she said with an exasperated tone. "What do you think he'll say when he wakes up?"

Loke smirked confidently. "Judging from that nosebleed, something along the lines of 'Oh Loke, you're the hottest spirit I've ever seen!' He wouldn't be wrong of course, I mean, look at these…" he then proceeded to flex his muscles arrogantly.

Lucy gave the lion spirit an annoyed glare and reached for Loke's key on her night stand. "Goodnight, Loke. Forced Gate Closure!" she muttered, swinging the key.

Loke let out a short pout before he disappeared back to the Spirit world, leaving Lucy to deal with the boy passed out on her floor.


End file.
